Blaze at Istanbul construction site kills 11 workers

Blaze at Istanbul construction site kills 11 workers

2012-03-13 03:40:03 GMT+7 (ICT)

ISTANBUL, Turkey (BNO NEWS) -- Eleven people were killed on late Sunday evening when a fire engulfed tents being used as dormitories at a construction site in the Turkish city of Istanbul, officials said. Eleven people have been detained for questioning, reports said.

The fire erupted just before 9 p.m. local time on Sunday in a large tent which was being used as a dormitory at a mall construction site in Istanbul. The blaze quickly engulfed the tent and also destroyed two adjacent tents also being used as dormitories, killing a total of eleven construction workers as they slept.

Video from a security camera at a building nearby showed people flee from the tents as others rushed to the scene to help. The first emergency vehicles arrived at the scene within minutes, but the tents were already fully engulfed in flames despite the snow and freezing temperatures.

The Hurriyet newspaper said police have detained eleven people, including the construction site supervisor and work safety chief. The report quoted one worker who suggested that the electric heaters in the tents may have been a cause for the fire, although the local mayor said the blaze started in the tent's kitchen.

The victims, whose bodies were recovered by firefighters on Monday, were employed by Kayi construction, a subcontractor of ECE Türkiye, the Turkish branch of the Germany-based ECE company. They were working on the construction of a new mall called Marmara Park in Istanbul's Esenyurt district.

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