Dramatic images and video show people clambering over the rubble after an eight-storey building collapse in Istanbul that left one person dead and four others trapped under the rubble, The Mirror reported Wednesday.
With the collapse of the 12-unit building, the report said, debris is strewn everywhere and many people are seen on videos frantically using their phones summoning help.
In addition, the videos and images show piles of broken furniture strewn in the middle of the street near the building’s destruction in the Maltepe area of Istanbul, The Mirror reported.
Local officials say an “explosion’ occurred prior to the building’s collapse, the report said.
An eyewitness told Dusunce Mektebi: "We jumped out of the noise.
"When we got out, we saw the building collapse."
Family, relatives and officials have rushed to the scene to await any news on their loved ones, the newspaper reported.
The were many witnesses to the collapse,’ Ensonhaber reported.
Eyewitnesses reported people remain under the rubble, ABC Gazetesi reports.
Firefighters, rescue teams and ambulances are currently on the scene, The Mirror reported. In addition, relatives of people living in the affected residences have also flocked to the area, reports say.
A cause for the 4 a.m. local time collapse is under investigation, The Mirror reported.
– WN.com, Jack Durschlag