10 workers killed in construction site accident in Istanbul

Ten workers were killed at a construction site in Istanbul when an elevator carrying them suddenly plunged to the ground from the 32th floor late on Sept. 6.

The accident occurred at the construction site of the Torunlar Center, which is being built on the former site of Galatasaray’s Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Şişli’s Mecidiyeköy neighborhood.

The elevator malfunctioned due to an unknown reason while the workers were trying to leave the construction at around 7:45 p.m. after the completion of their shift.

Paramedics, firefighters and search and rescue teams were rushed to the scene, recovering the bodies of 10 workers.

Istanbul Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu told reporters that some eight officials from the company that are overseeing the construction had been detained.

“The work should have ended at 7 p.m. The notice was delivered to firefighting teams at 7:45 p.m.,” the governor said, underlining that the accident happened after the set working period.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Sept. 7 called the workers' deaths "very painful and very saddening."
      
"The investigation will be carried out in detail," he told reporters in his home city of Konya in central Anatolia province.

The Governor’s Office has released the names of the workers killed in the accident as Tahir Kara, Hıdır Ali Genç, İsmail Sarıtaş, Bilal Bal, Cengiz Tatoğlu, Murat Usta, Menderes Meşe, Vahdet Biçer, Ferdi Kara and Cengiz Bilgi.

It has been claimed that the elevator broke down again around 15 days ago and that the repair work was awating funds from the budget.

There were also reports of police using violence to disperse people who were waiting in front of the site in the early...