A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced the owner and architect of a hotel where 72 people died after it collapsed following an earthquake last year to over 18 years in prison.

The dead included 26 members of a school volleyball team from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The Grand Isias Hotel in Adıyaman crumbled after the February 2023 quake that claimed 55,000 lives in Türkiye.

The court in Adıyaman sentenced hotel owner Ahmet Bozkurt to 18 years and five months in prison for "causing the death or injury of more than one person through conscious negligence," the Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

His son Mehmet Fatih Bozkurt was sentenced to 17 years and four months in jail and architect Erdem Yılmaz got 18 years and five months on the same charges, AA added.

An Agence France-Presse (AFP) team saw the hotel completely flattened.

The government declared a national mobilization, hiring a private plane to join a search-and-rescue effort for the volleyball team members.

Speaking to reporters after the court's verdict, Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ünal Üstel said the sentences were too lenient and they would take the case to a higher court.

"The hotel owners did not get the punishment we had expected," Üstel said. "But despite that, everyone from those responsible in the hotel's construction to the architect was sentenced. That made us partially happy."