Istanbul apartment building partly collapses; two dead, two still missing
The bottom three floors of a seven-story apartment building in Istanbul's Maltepe district collapsed before dawn Thursday. Rescuers pulled 10 people out alive and recovered two bodies, Turkey's Star newspaper reported. Two people were still being searched for, and the mayor says two top floors were built illegally.
Part of a seven-story apartment building collapsed in Istanbul early Thursday. The bottom three floors gave way at about 5:40 a.m. local time on Dogu Street in the Cevizli neighborhood of Maltepe, Istanbul's governor's office said, according to Turkey's Anadolu Agency. That was about 10:40 p.m. Wednesday on the U.S. East Coast.
An early statement from the governor's office said eight people, three of them children, had been rescued, Canli Gaste reported. A later update from Star put the number rescued at 10 and said the bodies of two people had been recovered, with two more still being searched for. Officials released the names of seven survivors, ranging in age from 8 to 43.
Governor Davut Gul said 33 people were registered as living in the building. The collapse damaged four apartments where 14 people were registered. Two of them turned out to be out of town. He said no one rescued was in life-threatening condition. Residents of the floors that did not fall were evacuated, and nearby risky buildings were cleared.
The cause is not yet known. The building went up in 1987 with a ground-floor shop and six floors of homes, the governor's office said. A textile workshop on the ground floor was empty at the time. Maltepe Mayor Esin Koymen said city records show the building was permitted for five floors and that two floors were added illegally.
Prosecutors in Istanbul opened an investigation. Interior Minister Ciftci said two civil inspectors were assigned.
About 200 firefighters and disaster workers, with search dogs, worked the site. Crews paused at times to listen for voices in the rubble. One firefighter fainted and was taken to a hospital.
What we know: Three floors fell, 10 people were rescued, and two people died, Star reported.
What we don't: Why the building collapsed and whether the two missing will be found alive.
Where outlets agree Star and Canli Gaste both carry the Istanbul governor's statement that the building dates to 1987 and that 14 people were registered in the four apartments that collapsed.
Where they differ Canli Gaste, citing an early governor's office statement, counts eight people rescued, while Star's later update puts the total at 10.