Two Detained Over Deadly Building Collapse in Türkiye’s Balikesir Province
The Sindirgi apartment building was one of the few inhabited structures to fall, leading authorities to detain its owner and builder on suspicion of “causing death and injury by negligence,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc confirmed.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Authorities in Türkiye have detained the owner and the constructor of a residential building that collapsed during a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in the country’s northwest, as part of an investigation into possible negligence, according to AP.
The quake struck the town of Sindirgi in Balikesir province on Sunday, killing an elderly resident who was inside the three-story apartment block when it crumbled, and injuring 29 others across the region. The tremor was felt as far away as Istanbul, nearly 200 kilometers (125 miles) to the north, sparking fears in the city of over 16 million people, which experts warn is at high risk for a major earthquake.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the quake caused 16 structures to collapse, most of them abandoned village homes. The Sindirgi apartment building was one of the few inhabited structures to fall, leading authorities to detain its owner and builder on suspicion of “causing death and injury by negligence,” Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc confirmed.
Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu reported that 19 of the 29 injured had been discharged by Monday, while the rest remained hospitalized in non-critical condition.
More than 200 aftershocks, the strongest measuring 4.6, have shaken the region since Sunday, forcing many residents to sleep outdoors or in cars out of fear their homes could collapse, HaberTurk TV reported.
Türkiye lies on major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes. In 2023, a devastating 7.8-magnitude quake killed more than 53,000 people in Türkiye and a further 6,000 in neighboring Syria, with the high death toll widely blamed on substandard construction, weak oversight, and institutional failures, according to AP.
