Apartment building collapses in central Turkey, trapping 2 people

Rescuers were battling to reach two people trapped under a collapsed apartment building in central Turkey on Saturday, officials said, with three others already rescued. No deaths were reported.

The collapse comes amid renewed focus on building safety following the deaths of 78 people in a fire Tuesday that ripped through a 12-story hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey. Investigators are examining whether proper fire prevention measures were in place.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Saturday that 79 people were registered as living in the four-story apartment block in the city of Konya, some 260 kilometers (160 miles) south of the capital Ankara.

Those remaining under the debris were Syrian nationals, Yerlikaya said, adding that the cause of the building collapse was not immediately known. “If there is a fault, negligence or anything else, we will learn it together,” he told journalists.

TV images showed emergency workers sifting through a large pile of rubble Saturday morning following the building’s collapse Friday evening. State-run Anadolu Agency reported that four people were detained as part of the investigation.

The second anniversary of an earthquake that hit southern Turkey and north Syria, killing more than 59,000, is just two weeks away. The high death toll at the time was due in part to building safety regulations being ignored.

In 2004, a 12-story apartment building collapsed in Konya, claiming the lives of 92 people and injuring some 30 others. Structural flaws and negligence were blamed for the collapse.