Collapsed Building in Kartal: Number of Casualties Increases

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Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu has announced that the number of casualties who lost their lives in the building, which collapsed in Kartal, İstanbul on February 6, has increased to 14.

Making another statement about the incident yesterday evening (February 7), Minister Soylu previously announced the number of casualties as 11 people. Indicating that the search and rescue operations were on the fourth storey of the seven-storey building, Soylu also added that the efforts to reach the ones trapped under debris were still continuing.

In a statement released by the Governorship of İstanbul, it was was also indicated that 11 people died in the incident and the names of the ones who lost their lives were announced as follows:

Fatma Karaman, Mustafa Alemdar, Safiye Alemdar (mother of Mustafa Alemdar), Safiye Alemdar (wife of Mustafa Alemdar), Erdoğan Alemdar, Saime Alemdar, Ecrin Alemdar, Eslem Alemdar.

"Columns cut off while extending the store"

As reported by Şahin Şen from Yeni Şafak newspaper, the people living in the vicinity have stated that two stores on the ground floor of the building were previously combined and during the related construction works, the wall was torn down and the column in the middle was cut off.

It has been further alleged that the building shook during the construction, which took five days. (EKN/SD)

* Photo: İsa Terli - İstanbul / AA