A tornado tore through a construction site in Antalya, southern Turkey, late on Monday, killing four construction workers and injuring a fifth, Turkish officials said.

Source: Associated Press

The tornado struck around 11 p.m. in the Fevzi Çakmak neighbourhood of the Kepez district and ripped apart two containers used as living quarters, hurling the five workers inside them outside, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Two workers died at the scene and two others died after being taken to hospital. The fifth worker suffered minor injuries and was reported to be in good condition, according to officials cited by Anadolu.

Antalya Governor Hulusi Şahin, who inspected the site, said the tornado also toppled a crane at the construction site, but the crane's collapse caused no deaths or injuries. "We are facing a very unusual natural phenomenon because there have been no reports of storms or tornadoes anywhere else in the city. There is no damage to the surrounding buildings, but we have a tornado that destroyed two containers in this particular area," Şahin told reporters, according to Turkish Minute's report of the Anadolu coverage.

Emergency medical teams, police and firefighters were sent to the site, and teams from Turkey's disaster agency AFAD joined inspections to check whether anyone else had been hurt, Euronews reported.

The Turkish State Meteorological Service had issued a yellow-code warning for heavy rainfall and possible tornadoes in Antalya on Monday, and issued a further warning for severe weather on Tuesday, including flash floods and strong winds. The same weather system brought torrential rain to Istanbul, flooding streets and underpasses, Euronews reported.

Tornadoes are not uncommon along Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean coasts in autumn and winter, and the coastline around Antalya is among the country's most tornado-prone areas.