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Families are being moved out of a group of Turkish villages where nearly half the deaths have been from a rare form of cancer caused by naturally-occurring minerals.
Tuzkoy, which nestles among the natural wonders of Turkey's central Cappadocia region, has been dubbed Cancer Village in the media.
It was declared a hazardous zone in 2004 and about 250 families have moved to new housing one mile away.
The rest of the population of 2,350 is expected to move when additional homes are ready.
The plan is to demolish the old village and bury it under earth.
The Turkish government, however, has not made a final decision on whether to bury Tuzkoy under dirt, pave it over with asphalt, or just try to keep people away.
Residents have been dying from mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the chest or abdomen. It has also been the scourge of nearby villages Sarihidir and Karain.
"The number of cases of mesothelioma in Tuzkoy has been about 600 to 800 times higher than world standards," said Murat Tuncer, who heads the health ministry department to fight cancer.
About 48% of all deaths in the three villages are from mesothelioma; the area accounts for about a quarter of the 40 to 60 new cases of mesothelioma in Turkey every year.
Several hundred villagers are believed to have died from the cancer since the 1980s, when authorities began to notice the problem.
Tuzkoy's inhabitants are believed to have inhaled fibres of the mineral erionite in stones and paints they used to build homes as well as in roads and fields.
Moving them just a short walk away should eliminate the risk, say officials.
SKYNEWS
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