One Dead, Three Unaccounted for After Maltepe Building Collapse

Three lower floors of a seven-storey residential building in Istanbul's Maltepe district gave way early Thursday morning, killing one person and leaving three others unaccounted for as rescue teams continued to search the rubble, according to Hürriyet.

The collapse occurred at around 05:40 local time in a building on Doğu Street in the Cevizli neighbourhood, the newspaper reported. Emergency crews, including AFAD disaster response units, firefighters, medical teams and police, were dispatched to the scene.

Why it matters

The incident has renewed attention on building safety in Istanbul, a city of roughly 16 million people where many structures predate modern construction standards. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said in a social media statement that two civil administrative inspectors had been assigned to determine whether public officials bore any negligence or responsibility in the planning, construction and renovation of the collapsed building, according to Hürriyet.

The building, constructed in 1987 as a ground floor plus six storeys, housed a ground-level commercial space and 12 residential apartments above, the Istanbul Governor's Office said in a written statement. According to population records cited by the governor's office, 33 people lived in the building. Residents of apartments unaffected by the collapse were evacuated.

Rescue operation and casualty figures

Interior Minister Çiftçi said the number of people pulled from the debris had risen to 11, with one confirmed fatality. He expressed condolences to the deceased person's family and said teams were working without interruption to reach the three people believed to be trapped.

The Istanbul Governor's Office said in a statement that the body of the deceased had been recovered and that search efforts for three people were ongoing. An earlier governor's office statement had put the number of rescued at 10, with four people still being sought.

The names of seven people rescued from the rubble were released: Harun Bora Turhan, 14; Hilal Meygil, 19; Furkan Turhan, 43; Zemzeme Bilece, 32; Yunus Emre Bilece, 11; Emirhan Bilece, 10; and Betül Bilece, 8, according to Hürriyet.

The governor's office said that of the 14 people living in the four apartments in the collapsed section, eight were rescued alive, with search efforts for the remaining six continuing under AFAD coordination. Later statements from the governor's office and the interior minister revised those figures as more people were reached.

A resident describes the collapse

Tolga Gürpınar, who was inside the building when it came down, told CNN Türk that the collapse happened toward 6 a.m. and woke him. He said he and others evacuated calmly and quickly, using a mobile lift because the stairs were unusable. Neighbours on the third floor made their own way out, he said.

Gürpınar described the building as old and said residents had been discussing a renovation campaign, with talks held with contractors, but the process had not been concluded. He said he did not know whether core samples had been taken. He added that the building had cracks and that some neighbours reported hearing small noises, though he had not noticed anything himself. He said he had no knowledge of any columns being cut and declined to speculate.

Gürpınar said a piece of concrete fell on him and he received minor first aid. "Our home is gone — what is my small wound," he said, according to the CNN Türk interview cited by Hürriyet. He praised the governor's visit to the site and said firefighters arrived within about five minutes.

Inspections and official response

The Interior Ministry's decision to assign two civil administrative inspectors signals a formal look at whether any official failures contributed to the collapse. The ministry said the review would cover the building's planning, construction and modification history, Hürriyet reported.

Çiftçi said all relevant institutions were coordinating the search and rescue effort with care and without pause. "I wish for our citizens trapped under the rubble to be reached safe and sound as soon as possible," he said, according to TRT Haber.

One report by Onedio noted that older footage of the building had surfaced showing thin reinforcement bars visible on its columns. CYBEV.io has not independently verified that footage, and it has not been confirmed as a cause of the collapse.

What to watch

The focus now is on the three people still missing and on the inspectors' findings, which will determine whether the collapse leads to formal accountability for any officials involved in the building's history.