Five construction workers killed in labor accidents across Turkey in black Sunday

ISTANBUL

Metin Boğmalık died after falling from the 15th floor of an under-construction building in Istanbul's Beylikdüzü district. DHA Photo

Negligence at construction sites continued to take its toll only a week after the deadly elevator collapse at the construction site of a luxurious tower in Istanbul that cost the life of 10 workers, as five more workers fell victims to labor accidents across Turkey on Sept. 14.

Four workers were killed after falling from heights, while a fifth died after being struck by electricity, in cases that have once again drawn attention to the lack of basic safety steps that could have prevented such deadly accidents.

In Istanbul’s European district of Beylikdüzü, 23-year-old Metin Boğmalık died after falling while loading materials onto a crane on the 15th floor of a construction site. Following the inspection at the site, experts said the use of a body belt would have averted the accident.

In Kartal on the Asian side of Istanbul, Ahmet Çakmak, 49, fell from the eighth floor of a building while helping to load timbers into a truck with a crane. Çakmak crashed into the truck, with witnesses saying workers at the site were not wearing any safety equipment at all, even helmets.

In the Central Anatolian province of Konya, Kıyas Kahraman died after falling from the third floor of a construction site. Similarly, in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, another laborer, Mehmet Albayrak, fell from the second floor of a three-storey construction site after losing his balance while laying bricks. Albayrak was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, but lost his life despite medical intervention.

A fifth laborer died at a construction site ran by Turkey’s state housing agency, TOKİ, in the Central Anatolian province of Kırşehir. Serkan Aydın, 19, was killed after being struck by an electrical current while using a defective freight lift.

The accidents came two days after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced a labor security action plan to forestall fatal accidents. Davutoğlu had called on employers to not abstain from workplace security expenses, as the government is under heavy criticism for giving its full backing to the huge construction boom across the country.