A powerful explosion last night in a three-storey building in the Beyoğlu district, in the very heart of Istanbul, left a trail of destruction that was evident by morning. But as municipal teams, neighbours and shopkeepers have been trying in the last few hours to clear the debris and repair windows broken by the explosion – which caused the building to collapse– many are thankful that there were no casualties.
As reported by Turkish daily Milliyet, the event occurred at around 9:45 pm on 23 July in a small shop on the ground floor of a three-storey building at the junction of Porsuk and Mürver streets, in the Emekyemez neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, just 300 metres from Istanbul’s famous Galata Tower.
As a result of the powerful explosion – which caused panic among residents in the area – the building partially collapsed and the windows and glass of surrounding shops and homes were shattered. Emergency services, including firefighters, police, ambulances and members of the Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD), were immediately dispatched to the scene and found that fortunately there were no injuries or fatalities, although there was extensive material damage.
The following morning, sunlight revealed the extent of the disaster, which initial investigations suggested may have been caused by a build-up of gas. The fact that both the shop and the other businesses in the collapsed building were closed at the time of the accident prevented a tragedy and the loss of life.
Mehmet Yaman, a local shopkeeper who owns a shop not far from the collapsed building and who also suffered damage to his business, spoke about the news to the newspaper: “The alarm system in our shop started to go off. When I looked at the camera, the shop (where the blast occurred) had been destroyed, so we came here. We don’t know what happened, but so far and as far as we know, there have been no injuries. It was not working hours, so no one was there. If it had happened during the day, many lives would have been lost,” Yaman said about the explosion, which was precisely recorded by security cameras in the surrounding shops.
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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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