A TAKEAWAY owner will travel to Turkey next week to hand over hundreds of pounds raised by the community to support his family, who have been left devastated by the earthquakes.

Brothers Ozkan and Ozgur Al, who own the popular Charcoal Grill takeaway in Whitehaven, have been collecting donations for their family via the FoodHub app.

Generous customers have also been calling into the shop to donate cash and around £500 has now been raised.

Ozkan, 34, said: “My uncles and aunties all live in Elbistan, where the earthquake started. That’s where I was born and all my family are.

“They have got nowhere to live at the moment. All of their houses are destroyed. All of their businesses are destroyed. They’re sleeping in tents outside.

“The only support they are getting is from other countries in Europe, at the moment.”

The 7.8- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes tore a path of destruction through southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6, killing 44,000 people.

Another 6.4 earthquake hit the country on Monday, which was followed by a 5.8 aftershock three minutes later.

Ozkan said his family were inside their houses when the first earthquake hit on February 6.

He said: “It was a big one. The first earthquake happened and they went outside. Then three or four hours later, the second one hit.

“All the houses were destroyed. In my family, no one died but they are injured. I’m happy that no one died.

“My brother is going next week to help them out and support them. My brother is going to take the money to them and try to support them with whatever they need.

“People are doing all they can to help. It’s really nice.”

The brothers have been running Charcoal Grill for eight years. Ozkan moved to London in 1998 and he and his brother later decided to set up a business and moved to Whitehaven.

Ozkan said: “My uncle lived in Workington and said it’s peaceful up here and the people are really nice, so we moved here. I love people round here.”

They are passionate about supporting the local community and sponsor three Whitehaven sports teams – Whitehaven RUFC, St Benedict’s RUFC and Bransty Rangers FC.

Ozkan said: “We try to help the community wherever we can. They’re helping us, so we’re helping them.”