One worker dies at site for third Istanbul airport construction

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

The operator of bulldozer died at the worksite of Istanbul’s third airport on July 9 as his vehicle fell into a large ditch, from which soil is being removed to be used in the construction of the city’s third airport.

The vehicle, which was being used by Osman Ceylan, 41, fell from a height of 10 early in the morning in Istanbul’s Eyüp district on the European side.

Ceylan managed to get out of the vehicle, but was unable to free himself from the mud, eye witnesses said.

Firefighters and rescue teams found his body three hours later. 

Turkey is planning to build its largest airport on the city’s European side, however, the project is facing numerous technical and financial problems.

A delay in the Kanal Istanbul project, another large project that is designed to reshape Istanbul’s European side with an artificial waterway, but changes in the projects plans have also impacted the airport, as land excavated from the canal projected was expected to be used for the airport.

Reaching the desired elevation level for the airport, which is planned to be built on an area with many old open-pit coal mines that must be filled, requires around 2.5 billion cubic meters of filling material, which were set to be mostly taken from the Kanal Istanbul project excavation soil.