ISTANBUL, Nov 7: A muezzin has mistakenly forced an extra day of fasting on people in a Turkish town by reading the azan five minutes early, officials said on Friday.

Veysel Mat, a muezzin in the Black Sea town of Akcakoca, apparently miscalculated the time of sundown on Thursday and read the azan early, causing people to break fast five minutes too soon. He read it again after realizing his error.

But those who accidentally broke the fast must now refrain from eating for one more day at the end of Ramazan, provincial mufti Kemal Turksoy said.

“Several people have complained and an investigation has been launched,” Mr Turksoy said.

“I was one of the people who had just sat down for the iftar when we heard the call to prayer again five minutes later. It was very distressing,” local administrator Ali Uslanmaz said.

Mr Turksoy said it was not clear how many people had been affected by the mistake. There are 10 mosques in Akcakoca, a town of 25,000 people, and they are linked by a central broadcasting system.—Reuters