Turkey’s disaster management agency (AFAD) announced on X that they were notified about the collapse of a building at 8:41 on Sunday morning. They dispatched 412 personnel, 77 vehicles and 15 ambulances to the scene.
“Eight of our citizens were pulled out alive from the rubble, the lifeless body of 1 citizen was found,” AFAD stated.
Seven of the injured were foreigners, according to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya who visited the injured in hospital. A mother and her six-month-old baby were in “more critical” condition, he said.
Istanbul governor Davut Gul told journalists that the building was built in 1988 and the cause of the collapse is yet to be determined.
“Our chief public prosecutor is at the scene. The judicial and administrative process will continue… We do not have any reports or detections of explosions," Gul said.
The building consisted of a doner shop on the ground floor, above which were offices. The higher floors were occupied by residential apartments.
The building’s owner as well as the owner of the doner shop have been detained, according to state-owned Anadolu Agency.
