Search and rescue work has been completed at the seven-story building in Istanbul’s Maltepe district whose lower three floors collapsed on the morning of Oct. 8. With the bodies of three more people believed to be under the rubble recovered, the death toll has risen to five.
To reach the three people, crews carried out a controlled demolition, shaving the building down floor by floor from the top, before moving on to clearing the debris and pausing at intervals to listen for sounds. The last body was reached at 6:15 a.m. in the AFAD-coordinated operation. Rescuers searched the site for some time to make sure no one else remained before excavators resumed hauling away debris. Samples were taken from the columns on every floor for examination.
According to the Istanbul Governor’s Office, those killed were Gülce Dora Turhan, born in 2021; Ahmet Muhammed İnan, born in 2004; Zeynep İnan, born in 2006; Mesut Bilece, born in 1986; and Hüseyin Özkurt, born in 1960. A total of 14 people were pulled from the rubble; four died at the scene and one in hospital.
Three nearby buildings were evacuated, displacing 55 people, and 44 residents in need of shelter were placed in hotels, the governor’s office said. A total of 774 personnel, 237 vehicles, two drones and 10 search dogs took part, including AFAD teams from Istanbul, Tekirdağ, Bursa and Sakarya, firefighters, paramedics, police, the Turkish Red Crescent and municipal crews.
The collapse and the first hours
The lower three floors of a seven-story building on Doğu Street in the Cevizli neighborhood of Istanbul’s Maltepe district collapsed for an as yet unknown reason at around 5:40 a.m. Disaster and emergency (AFAD), fire, medical and police teams were dispatched to the scene.
In a statement at 10:56 a.m., Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said: "The number of citizens pulled from the rubble has risen to 11. Unfortunately, one of our citizens has lost their life. Our teams are working nonstop with all their means to reach three citizens believed to be under the rubble." Three children are among those rescued.
Death toll rises to 2 as controlled demolition begins
Istanbul Governor Davut Gül said at 1:51 p.m. that the death toll had risen to two, that three people were believed to remain under the rubble and that none of the injured was in life-threatening condition. The victims were identified as Gülce Dora Turhan and Ahmet Muhammed İnan. Ten people, including three children, were pulled out alive.
Gül said crews would demolish the building from the top in a controlled way, "both to reduce the load on the structure and to try to reach our three fellow citizens through tunnels opened underneath." The controlled demolition began with a crane in the afternoon. Two people, an architect and a construction site supervisor, were detained as part of the investigation by the Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
Speaking at the site earlier in the morning, Istanbul Governor Davut Gül had said five people were initially pulled out and contact had been made with people trapped under the debris. Ten residents of the upper floors were evacuated safely.
Gül said the building had 12 apartments and, according to records, 33 residents, 14 of whom were registered in the collapsed units.
Illegal floors claim and investigation
The ground floor of the 1987 building reportedly housed a textile workshop. Maltepe Mayor Esin Köymen said the building appears in official records as five stories, adding that the top two floors had been added without a permit.
The Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation, assigning a deputy chief prosecutor and two prosecutors, and two civil service inspectors were appointed to look into possible negligence by public officials. Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said all state resources had been mobilized.
Governor: no result yet from sensitive listening
Speaking at the scene in the evening, Istanbul Governor Davut Gül said six people were in hospital, one of them in serious condition, and that none was in life-threatening danger. He recalled that two people had died and said all teams were working to reach the three people still unaccounted for.
Rescuers silenced generators in the area to carry out sensitive listening but had not yet received a response, Gül said, adding that the missing are aged 20, 40 and 60, including a person reported to be disabled. Teams are digging tunnels toward the areas where they are believed to be.
Asked about smoke rising from the rubble, Gül said fabric in a textile shop in the basement was smoldering and firefighters could not reach it because of the debris. Three buildings next to the collapsed one were evacuated and 44 residents are staying in a hotel arranged by the district governorship. The rubble is expected to be fully cleared tomorrow, when a plan for the surrounding buildings will also be set, he said, stressing the importance of urban renewal: "We need to take precautions before our buildings collapse."
Debris cleared, architect and site manager arrested
Debris removal at the site has been completed, and Maltepe Municipality crews fenced off the plot with metal barriers after heavy machinery left the area. Nine people had been rescued alive from the rubble. As part of the investigation by the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the building’s architect and the construction site manager were arrested.
