Four workers were hospitalised after being rescued alive from a burning building under construction in the Alanya district of Turkey’s southern coastal province of Antalya, a week after another fire broke out in the early hours of the morning at a ski resort hotel in Bolu province, leaving 78 people dead, half of them children, and shocking the entire country.
According to the Turkish news agency DHA, the fire broke out yesterday at around 17:00 Turkish time (15:00 CET) in a 12-storey building under construction on Kerem Ertekin Street in the Cikcilli district. The fire was apparently sparked by sparks from a welding machine during work on the first floor, and then ignited a flammable material that quickly engulfed most of the block.
After several witnesses alerted the 112 emergency number, police, fire brigade and ambulance crews from several surrounding districts rushed to the scene. Nine of the 13 workers who were working in the building at the time were evacuated, but the remaining four were trapped on the upper floors, from where they were finally evacuated after an hour.
Three of them, as well as a firefighter who was injured during the rescue, were hospitalised, although all of them were discharged in the last few hours except for one of the workers, who is still in intensive care. Firefighters were also able to rescue a cat on the 2nd floor who suffered smoke poisoning and partial burns and was taken to a municipal veterinary centre in Alanya, where it is reported that its health condition is not serious and is progressing favourably.
A total of 250 emergency personnel were involved in extinguishing the fire in the building, which was extensively damaged, especially on the three lower floors. The mayor of Alanya, Osman Tarık Özçelik, said the fire broke out after sparks from welding work jumped onto unused beds that were to be placed in the rooms of the building, which was originally intended for residential use but later converted into a hotel after being bought by a hotel chain. ‘Although the workers initially tried to put out the fire themselves, they were unable to do so,’ Özçelik said. The fire, which was brought under control after two hours, forced the evacuation of several surrounding buildings due to the risk of smoke poisoning.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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