Fire kills five people in Istanbul penthouse
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
The fire, which is thought to have been ignited due to an electricity short circuit or a cigarette, took firefighters two hours to put out and finally was controlled. İHA photo
Five people were killed and injured more in a fire that broke out inside a four-story building in Istanbul’s Eminönü neighborhood at around 6 a.m. yesterday before quickly spreading.It took firefighters two hours to put out the blaze, which is thought to have been ignited due to an electricity short circuit or a cigarette.
Firefighters recovered the bodies of five persons between the ages of 20 and 25 inside the building. Officials said the five victims were first poisoned by smoke inhalation before being burned in the raging fire.
The five victims were street vendors paying a visit to the building to rent the penthouse in Eminönü’s Unkapanı area.
Kadir Kaya and Gülsüm Şahin were injured in the incident when they jumped out from the third floor to escape the flames, landing on police officers who were waiting outside to catch them, according to the news portal NTVMSNBC.
Kaya and Şahin broke their feet and were taken to the Haseki Training and Research Hospital.
Ambulances also took four people, one of whom was identified as an Azerbaijani citizen, to hospital after they suffered from smoke inhalation. Meanwhile, firefighters’ efforts to combat the blaze were temporarily put on hold when electricity lines were severed due to the fire.
