A two-storey building has collapsed in eastern Turkey, injuring at least 13 people. As rescue workers comb through the wreckage, more than 20 people are reportedly still trapped under concrete and debris.
The incident occurred on Tuesday in the town of Battalgazi, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of the Syrian border. The cause of the collapse is unknown, though witnesses told Haberturk they had seen construction workers cutting a column in a business on the ground floor.
Rescue workers managed to pull 13 people from the site by Tuesday evening, according to Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD). Battalgazi Mayor Osman Güder told reporters that some 20-25 people were in the cafe in the building at the time of the collapse, adding “I hope we do not have any dead.”
As search and rescue operations continued, video footage captured the extent of the devastation, and the panic on the surrounding streets.
“I heard a crack first and then the building collapsed. A cloud of dust emerged. It was like judgement day,” witness Turhan Cobanoglu told Haberturk. According to locals, the building housed a chicken farm on the ground floor and a cafe above, where most of the victims are believed to have been at the time of the collapse.
According to multiple Turkish news reports, rescuers have heard survivors calling out from beneath the wreckage.
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