Owner of hotel collapsed in Van quake arrested

VAN

DHA Photo

The owner of the Bayram Hotel, which collapsed during a 5.6-magnitude earthquake last year in the eastern province of Van, has been arrested on charges of "knowingly causing death,” daily Hürriyet reported today.
 
Security forces detained Tevfik Bayram in the southern province of Antalya in June and sent him to Van after an arrest warrant was issued by Van’s public prosecutor as a part of investigation into the hotel, which collapsed during the second major earthquake to hit the eastern province late last year.
 
A Van court arrested Bayram after questioning by public prosecutors.
 
Twenty people, including two reporters from Doğan news agency (DHA), Sebahattin Yılmaz and Cem Emir, as well as Japanese doctor Atsushi Miyazaki, were killed when the hotel collapsed during the 5.6-magnitude aftershock following a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Van on Oct. 23, 2011, that killed over 600.