ISTANBUL — An eight-story building collapsed in Istanbul on Wednesday, killing at least one person and trapping several others inside the rubble, Turkish media reports said.
ISTANBUL — An eight-story building collapsed in Istanbul on Wednesday, killing at least one person and trapping several others inside the rubble, Turkish media reports said.
The building had 43 residents living in 14 apartments, Istanbul’s governor said. The structure had a street-level ground floor and seven higher floors, Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said.
The top three floors were built illegally, he said.
It was not immediately clear how many people could be trapped in the wreckage.
Emergency authorities dispatched several rescue teams and medics to the site on the Asian side of Istanbul, in the mostly residential Kartal district. At least one person was brought out with injuries, HaberTurk television reported.
The station said three other people were hospitalized earlier.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. The chief prosecutor’s office for the region said it has launched an investigation.
NTV television said rescue teams from the neighboring provinces of Bursa and Sakarya were sent to assist with the rescue operation.
