A seven-story building collapsed early Wednesday in the Gebze district of Kocaeli. A family of five was trapped under the rubble. After hours of search and rescue operations, the lifeless bodies of the parents and two children were recovered, while the family’s 18-year-old daughter was found alive, state-run Anadolu Agency reported Thursday.
Twelve nearby buildings have been evacuated as a precaution and the street leading to these buildings has also been closed to vehicles and pedestrian traffic.
Dilara Bilir, the only survivor of the incident, has been taken to the hospital.
"We rescued the family's eldest child, 18-year-old Dilar, alive from under the rubble. She can be communicated with, her general condition is good,” Mehmet Aktas, deputy interior minister, told journalists.
The cause of the collapse remains unclear, but unconfirmed reports suggest it may have been linked to an underground metro construction project.
Orhan Erdagi is the supervisor of one of the nearby buildings evacuated as a precaution.
“I was not here when the incident took place. I learned about it over an hour later. They sealed the gate of the building. No one knows what the situation will be now. We had heard before that warnings were given about this building,” he told Rudaw.
Governor Ilhami Aktas told reporters on Wednesday that the collapsed building was built in 2012. He noted that only one family was at home at the time of the incident.
Omer Sonmez contributed from Kocaeli.