One dead and ten rescued after seven-storey building collapses in Istanbul

Early morning collapse in Maltepe

A seven-storey residential structure in Istanbul partially collapsed in the early hours of Thursday, triggering emergency extraction operations on the Asian side of the city. The failure occurred at approximately 05:40 local time on Doğu Street, situated in the Cevizli neighbourhood of the Maltepe district. The lower three floors, which accommodated ground-floor commercial shops, caved in entirely while the upper levels remained upright.

Ten residents who were inside the upper storeys during the collapse avoided physical injury and were safely evacuated by ladder. The sudden structural failure trapped occupants across four lower flats beneath heavy concrete slabs and twisted metal. Emergency services, including municipal fire brigades, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), and the National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE), deployed personnel to secure the perimeter and establish entry points.

Search and rescue operations under structural risk

Emergency teams used search dogs, heavy earth-moving machinery, and acoustic listening devices to detect survivors trapped beneath the compressed lower levels. Rescuers successfully pulled ten people from the debris, including three children, while one deceased individual was recovered from the rubble. Istanbul Governor Davut Gül confirmed that those transported to hospital did not suffer life-threatening injuries, though unstable debris forced crews to alter their excavation paths repeatedly.

Our teams made contact with several individuals trapped beneath the rubble shortly after arriving.

Rescue teams established contact with a six-year-old child early in the operation, but physical access remained obstructed by unstable masonry. Authorities evacuated neighbouring buildings as a precaution against secondary structural failures, with the Istanbul Governorship noting that efforts continued to locate three individuals still unaccounted for.

The building is at risk. There is a possibility of collapse. Rescue efforts are being conducted in a controlled manner.

Building background and illegal construction claims

Official municipal records indicate that the seven-storey property was constructed in 1987 and housed 12 residential apartments alongside the ground-level shops. A total of 33 people were registered as residents in the municipal registry, with 14 individuals registered in the four apartments directly affected by the collapse. Two of those 14 residents were away in their hometowns when the building failed.

Turkish media reported that the upper two floors of the seven-storey building had been constructed illegally without official authorization. The presence of unlicensed storeys added substantial weight to the aging frame, which had stood for nearly four decades. Structural engineers and disaster personnel restricted mechanical digging near the core to avoid shifting load-bearing sections that remained precariously balanced above the collapsed levels.

Administrative and judicial inquiries

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office initiated an inquiry into the collapse, assigning a deputy chief prosecutor and two public prosecutors to examine the property's construction records and historical permits. Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi announced that two ministry inspectors were deployed to review the circumstances of the failure and determine municipal oversight compliance.

The collapse occurred against the backdrop of an ongoing urban transformation programme across Istanbul and other Turkish provinces. The state-sponsored programme seeks to identify, tear down, and reconstruct residential buildings constructed before modern seismic regulations, aiming to replace brittle concrete stock with reinforced structures. Investigators plan to conduct material testing on the extracted concrete cores once rescue operations conclude.