Team News Riveting
Istanbul, February 18
Investigations against contractors responsible for the buildings that collapsed or were damaged in the quake zone continue even as a total of 245 suspects have been prosecuted so far in the investigations related to the buildings destroyed in the earthquakes.
In all, 65 suspects were arrested within the scope of the investigations, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ informed. The authorities launched an investigation against the contractors of the buildings that turned to dust during the quakes on the charge of “involuntary manslaughter.”
Five contractors were arrested in Istanbul, including Haydar Kurtar, the contractor of the Atabey Apartment building where Aleyna Ölmez was found alive after 248 hours, while another was arrested while fleeing to Greece by boat.
Contractor Mesut Başkır, who was issued an arrest warrant for “causing death or injury by negligence,” was captured while trying to escape to Greek islands with a sailboat off the coast of Muğla’s Marmaris district. The suspect was handed over to Muğla Provincial Security Directorate and sent to Kahramanmaraş after the procedures.
The teams of the Istanbul Financial Crimes Branch Directorate started to work to capture five contractors who were detected in Istanbul.
Minister of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change Murat Kurum announced on Friday that a total of 84,726 buildings were damaged in the February 6 earthquake, which wreaked havoc in 10 provinces in Türkiye’s south. Kurum said crews from his ministry examined 684,000 buildings in the earthquake-hit provinces so far and said 84,726 buildings were found to be either collapsed, heavily damaged or in immediate need of demolition.
