a dozen contractors arrested after the collapse of thousands of buildings

During the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, the brutal collapse of buildings left residents with little luck. In southern Turkey, a dozen people in the construction sector were arrested to answer for poor construction, several local media reported on Saturday (February 11th). In the evening, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay announced that 113 arrest warrants had been issued, raising expectations of future arrests.

Among those detained are an entrepreneur from the province of Gaziantep and eleven people from the province of Sanliurfa, according to the Turkish agency DHA. On Friday, the police arrested at Istanbul airport an entrepreneur from the province of Hatay, whose luxury residence completely collapsed on its inhabitants.

The Turkish Ministry of Justice has also ordered the prosecutors of the ten affected provinces to open “earthquake-related crime investigation offices”. Investigations have been opened in some areas, such as Kahramanmaras, in the district of Pazarcik, located at the epicenter of the earthquake.