Contractor caught in hotel where he stayed as victim

ANTALYA

The contractor of a building that collapsed in Hatay during Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes has been caught in a hotel where he was staying as an earthquake victim in the southern province of Antalya’s Manavgat district.

During the 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude earthquakes on Feb. 6, the Kule Apartment built by Cihan Construction company in Hatay collapsed.

The relatives of those who lost their lives under the rubble and those who were injured filed a complaint against Ömer Cihan, the owner of the company.

An arrest warrant was issued for him on the complaint, while Cihan, who was determined to be staying with his family in a hotel in the Manavgat district as an earthquake victim, was captured by provincial gendarmerie teams.

The court decided to arrest the contractor, who was found to be responsible for the building’s collapse.

Some 134 people are under investigation for their responsibility in the construction of buildings that failed to withstand the quakes.

The Justice Ministry deployed 304 additional prosecutors and 1,275 personnel in quake-affected provinces to investigate the collapsed buildings, as well as security issues in the region.

Among those facing scrutiny were two people arrested in Gaziantep province on the suspicion of cutting down columns to make extra room in a building that collapsed.

Two contractors, a couple, held responsible for the destruction of buildings in Adıyaman, were arrested on Feb. 12 at Istanbul Airport while trying to leave the country.

When the suspects were arrested at Istanbul Airport, $16,000 and 20,000 Turkish Liras were found on them.

Contractor İbrahim Mustafa Uncuoğlu was detained in Istanbul’s Pendik district as his negligence was found in a building destroyed in which the bodies of nine people were reached in the first stage in Gaziantep.

A 62-year-old engineer of a collapsed building in Gaziantep was caught in the Aegean province of Afyonkarahisar.

Within the scope of the investigation carried out by the Diyarbakır Prosecutor’s Office, the number of people who were detained over collapsed buildings in the city has increased to 33.

Mehmet Yaşar Coşkun, the contractor of a residence that collapsed in Hatay, was sent to a prison in Istanbul.

In the investigation over a collapsed building in Şanlıurfa in which 33 people lost their lives, 11 people were detained.