At least 29 people were killed Tuesday in a huge fire that broke out in the basement of a residential building in Istanbul, where workers were carrying out work at a nightclub.
The disaster broke out at midday, according to the governor, leaving black marks visible on the first four floors of the building which has sixteen, all entirely evacuated.
Early in the evening, the Istanbul governor’s office announced the end of the search for possible additional victims in the rubble.
“I lost four friends,” Fikret Kaya, a forty-year-old who rushed with the grieving relatives of the victims, told AFP. Not far away, a woman stood with her head in her hands, her face hidden by her black cap.
Firefighters at the site of a fire which broke out in the basement of a residential building in Istanbul, April 2, 2024 in Turkey / OZAN KOSE / AFP
A very strong smell of burning still hung over the entrance to the club and the police maintained large numbers of troops around.
According to the first elements reported by the governor, Davut Gül, the fire broke out during work carried out in the nightclub located in the basement of the building.
All the workers died, he added. Without specifying whether all the victims were indeed employed on the site.
“Closed during Ramadan”
“The club was closed during Ramadan,” 46-year-old local resident Erkan Karakoç told AFP.
Firefighters at the site of a fire which broke out in the basement of a residential building in Istanbul, April 2, 2024 in Turkey / OZAN KOSE / AFP
A large number of emergency services were mobilized and at the end of the day, around twenty ambulances and fire trucks remained parked in the street, blocked to traffic and pedestrians, AFP noted.
At the entrance to the street, at a distance from the building with the blackened facade, three firefighters, their faces and equipment stained with soot, were seated, prostrate, while another passed by, with a blank stare, his helmet on. hand.
It was only late in the afternoon that Governor Davut Gül announced that the fire had been brought under control.
According to a final report from its services, in addition to the deceased people, one injured person was still hospitalized in serious condition.
According to the governor, five then “eight people were arrested”, including the owner and manager of the nightclub, as well as the boss of the metallurgy company responsible for the work.
A forensic investigator dispatched to the site of the fire which broke out in the basement of a residential building in Istanbul, April 2, 2024 / OZAN KOSE / AFP
“An investigation was opened following the fire in Gayrettepe, in the Besiktas district of Istanbul. two inspectors went to the site,” confirmed Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on X (ex-Twitter) , without further details.
“A fire broke out in a (nightclub) located in the basement of a 16-story residential building in Gayrettepe, in the Besiktas district,” the governor announced, specifying that the disaster had broken out “at 12:47 p.m. (09:47 a.m. GMT).
Relatives of victims of the fire which killed at least 29 people in a residential building in Istanbul burst into tears, April 2, 2024 / OZAN KOSE / AFP
All afternoon, the reports continued to evolve and most of the twelve seriously injured initially announced gradually died despite being transferred to hospital.
The “Club Masquerade”, a popular establishment in Gayrettepe, in the central district of Besiktas, had several stages and regularly hosted concerts. He received his license in 1987, which was renewed in 2018, Mr. Gül said.
According to him, “the nightclub had been maintained and renovated”.
Firefighters at the site of a fire which broke out in the basement of a residential building in Istanbul, April 2, 2024 in Turkey / OZAN KOSE / AFP
But the local media cast doubt, as is often the case in Turkey, on the regularity of the renovation work and pointed out that the establishment, which could accommodate between 1,500 and 2,000 people, had no emergency exit although it was located in the basement.
In addition, its support columns had been sawn off, making it particularly vulnerable in the event of an earthquake, they report.
The mayor of Istanbul re-elected on Sunday, Ekrem Imamoglu, who visited the site, confirmed that “the fire has been brought under control” and offered his “condolences”.
