- Title: TURKEY: AT LEAST 12 PEOPLE DIE AS APARTMENT BUILDING COLLAPSES IN TURKEY
- Date: 2nd February 2004
- Summary: (W1) KONYA, TURKEY (FEBRUARY 3, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. LV/SLV NIGHT VIEWS OF DIGGERS WORKING ON COLLAPSED BUILDING (3 SHOTS) 0.21 2. SV WORKERS CARRY BODY FROM RUBBLE 0.31 3. CU/LV OF RESCUE WORKER APPLYING DRIP TO INJURED PERSON 0.46 4. SV MEDICS REMOVE WOUNDED PERSON 0.59 5. SV MEDICS CARRY WOUNDED PERSON FROM COLLAPSED BUILDI
- Embargoed: 17th February 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KONYA, TURKEY
- Country: Turkey
- Reuters ID: LVACXNQ1OF3UZ9Y76PJ3KJYK16D
- Story Text: At least 12 people die in apartment collapse in
Turkey.
Digging with their bare hands, rescue workers in
central Turkey on Tuesday (February 3) searched for dozens
feared trapped in the rubble of a 10-storey apartment
building which collapsed and killed at least 10 people.
Temperatures fell below freezing overnight as rescuers
and relatives picked through the ruins of the building in
the city of Konya, 250 km (155 miles) south of the capital
Ankara.
Turkish media said the death toll stood at 12, with 28
injured. A two-year-old girl was among the dead.
Rescuers feared a higher death toll. One rescue worker
said anyone on the lower floors of the building had a very
small chance of survival.
The 36-apartment block buckled at around 8:30 p.m. (1830
GMT) on Monday (February 2), a Muslim holiday.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear.
Officials at the scene blamed shoddy construction, while
witnesses said they heard an
explosion before the building came crashing down.
More than 25 people were being treated in hospital, some
with injuries from jumping out of windows of the building
in an affluent area of Konya.
As many as 120 people may have been inside -- the Muslim
holiday of Eid al-Adha meant that shops on the ground floor
were closed, but many residents had guests in their homes.
Scores of relatives rushed to the site seeking news of
casualties. Rescue workers said the crowds were making it
difficult to listen for anyone buried alive, including a
woman who had used her mobile telephone to call for help.
Rescuers scrambled on top of the five-metre (16 foot)
pile of concrete blocks, broken furniture and twisted
metal, but large earth-moving equipment was not being used
for fear of unsettling the mound and crushing any survivors.
Mustafa Ozkafa, the mayor of Konya, said 144 people
lived in the building but it wasn't known how many were at
home at the time of the collapse.
"We do know that some of the residents were outside at
that time. That is why we can not give an exact number of
people that can be under the rubble," the mayor said.
Nearby residents said there had been structural problems
at the building and that its engineers had failed for years
to win official clearance to allow people to move in.
Civil defence and military units from across Turkey
rushed to Konya to assist in the rescue effort.
Similar disasters have in the past been blamed on
Turkey's badly enforced building regulations and poor
construction.
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