Two dead after seven-storey building collapses in Turkey

Two people have died and three others have been injured after a seven-storey building collapsed in the northwest Turkish city of Gebze on Wednesday, officials have said.

İlhami Aktaş, Gebze’s governor, said earlier that all five casualties belonged to the same family.

The state-run TRT news channel reported said those affected were a 43-year-old man, a 37-year-old woman and their three children.

The body of 12-year-old Muhammed Emir Bilir was recovered from the site, but the other victim has yet to be identified, the channel added.

Hundreds of workers from the Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) are said to be engaged in rescue operations at the site.

The cause of the building’s collapse is currently unknown, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

However, Zinnur Büyükgöz, the mayor of Gebze, told local reporters that it may have been caused by nearby metro construction.

The incident in Gebze comes just days after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit western Turkey on Monday, causing three buildings and a two-storey shop in the town of Sındırgı in Balıkesir province to collapse.

Turkish officials, who said there were no reports of casualties, explained that the structures were uninhabited after being damaged in a previous earthquake.

A total of 22 people were hurt in panic-related falls, said İsmail Ustaoğlu, the governor of Balıkesir.

Monday's earthquake struck at 10:48 pm local time (8:48 pm CET) at a depth of almost 6km, said AFAD. It was followed by several aftershocks, and was felt in Istanbul as well as the nearby provinces of Bursa, Manisa and Izmir.

Experts have urged the Turkish authorities to enforce modern construction codes, saying their failure to do so poses significant risks.

In January, two people died after the collapse of a four-storey building in Konya, with shopkeepers on trial over the alleged dismantling of supporting columns.