More than a dozen people linked to the construction industry have been arrested in Turkey following the collapse of thousands of buildings in the south of the country in Monday’s earthquake, Agence France-Presse reports.
Those arrested include a businessman from Gaziantep province and 11 people from Sanliurfa province, Turkey’s DHA agency said.
The brutal collapse of the buildings, revealing their poor construction and reducing the chances of their residents surviving, sparked an uprising in the country, killing about 22,000 people and injuring more than 80,000.
More arrests are expected after the prosecutor of Diyarbakir, one of the 10 provinces hit by the disaster, announced today that he had issued 29 arrest warrants, the official agency Anadolu reported.
According to this source, one of those arrested is a businessman who built the buildings in Gaziantep and was arrested in Istanbul.
Several investigations were launched by prosecutors in affected provinces, such as Kahramanmaras, where Pazarcik district was the epicenter of the earthquake.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry has ordered prosecutors in the ten provinces to open “earthquake investigation offices”.
On Friday, police at Istanbul airport arrested a businessman from Hatay province, whose luxurious renaissance residence completely collapsed in front of the inhabitants.
Source: DN
