Fire destroys hotel contsruction area

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

The construction where the fire started, had been initiated many years ago but then halted in 1994 after authorities concluded it did not comply with regulations. DHA photo

A fire that broke out in a hotel construction zone in Istanbul’s Gümüşsuyu district at approximately 1:45 p.m. Dec.8 was extinguished within an hour, avoiding injuries or death, reports said. 

The fire started on the building’s seventh floor where about 300 workers had been residing. Initial reports indicate the fire might have broken out due to an electricity short circuit as the workers inside were using electric heaters to shield themselves from the cold. 

The fire quickly spread across the entire floor as the sponge beds and plastic shelters used by the workers easily caught fire. 

Firefighters from the city’s Beyoğlu, Şişli, Fatih and Beşiktaş districts intervened in the fire and put it out before it spread to other floors, while plumes of rising smoke could be seen from across the Bosphorus, according to reports. 

The construction of Park Hotel, where the fire started, had been initiated many years ago but then halted in 1994 after authorities concluded it did not comply with regulations. Construction work was recently reinitiated on the 13-story building, which had been previously used as a car park.