An alarm was sounded early Thursday morning in Istanbul when part of a seven-story apartment building collapsed in the Maltepe neighborhood, trapping people under the rubble.
The incident occurred around 5:40 a.m. on Doğu Street, in the Sevizli neighborhood, when, for unknown reasons, the building’s three lowest floors collapsed, while the upper sections remained standing but in an unstable condition.
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Watch video footage from a camera on a neighboring building capturing the moment of the collapse
The moment the building collapsed in Maltepe: #Maltepe #collapsed pic.twitter.com/cBzhE3IqCR
— Esad Eruyar (@EsadEruyar) October 8, 2026
Immediately after the collapse, large numbers of personnel from the Fire Department, AFAD, the police, and emergency medical services rushed to the area, and a major search and rescue operation was launched.
Residents on the upper floors were evacuated from the building with the help of rescue teams, while search efforts focused on the areas where people are believed to be trapped.
Dozens of people were living in the building
According to available information, the building contained 12 apartments and had a total of 33 registered residents.
Istanbul Governor Davut Gül stated that of the people believed to have been in the section that collapsed, several have already been pulled out alive.
In an initial update, Gül reported that five people had been rescued, while seven more were believed to be trapped. Contact had been established with four of them, while efforts to locate the others were continuing.
More recent reports from Turkish media indicated that the number of people pulled out injured had risen to six, with rescue operations continuing.
“We woke up as if there had been an earthquake”
Local residents described the moment of the collapse as particularly violent.
“We woke up as if there had been an earthquake,” said a neighborhood resident, describing the noise and commotion caused when the lower floors of the building collapsed.
The collapse sent up a large cloud of dust, though the building did not collapse entirely but “settled” onto its lower levels and began to lean, prompting authorities to take measures due to the risk of further subsidence.
The causes remain unknown at this time
The causes of the collapse have not yet been determined.
Authorities have launched technical, administrative, and judicial investigations to determine what caused the collapse of the lower floors. According to Turkish media reports, the building was constructed in 1987, and there were shops on the ground floor.
The area around the building has been cordoned off, and rescue workers are continuing their operations with extreme caution, as part of the structure remains standing above the rubble.
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Source: PROTO THEMA
