A four-story building collapsed in Istanbul's Kağıthane district yesterday. The building was evacuated minutes before the collapse after the retaining wall of an adjacent construction site collapsed.
Officials said 10 buildings around the collapsed building have been evacuated as a precaution, while two parked cars were crushed under the collapsed building. Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.
Media outlets said the construction site was empty after the ground was broken two years ago. Video footage showed that the building was dangling on the edge of the construction site on a lower level before it tumbled down. The retaining wall was apparently the only thing preventing the building from collapse earlier.
The scene was similar to another incident last year in Istanbul's Beyoğlu district, where a four-story building came crashing down after the retaining wall of a nearby construction site collapsed in heavy rainfall.
The incident brought back fears for Istanbul residents who witnessed a fatal collapse of another apartment building in February that killed 21 people in the city's Kartal district when a residential building collapsed. Its builders have since been arrested on charges of causing death by neglect. Prosecutors claimed that substandard material used in the construction of the Kartal building led to the collapse.
