Six arrested over deadly dormitory fire in Turkey’s Adana

ADANA

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A local court in the southern province of Adana on Dec. 4 ordered the arrest of six suspects over a deadly fire at a private girls’ dormitory in Adana’s Aladağ district, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Among the arrested suspects were dormitory manager Cumali Genç and the head of the Aladağ Aid Association to Course and School Students, identified only as İsmail U.

Earlier, five suspects were referred to court following their proceedings at police headquarters.

The court on Dec. 4 ordered the arrest of two unidentified suspects, along with Genç and İsmail U., while releasing the other suspect on probation. Three other suspects were later referred to court for arrest.

Late on Dec. 4, the court ordered the arrest of two board members of the association, bringing the number of arrests into the incident to six.

Police had previously detained some 14 suspects over the incident, later releasing six of them on probation.

Sare Betül Genç, the four-year-old daughter of the dormitory manager Genç, was killed in the Nov. 29 fire.

A total of 12 people, 10 of whom were students, were killed and another 24 were injured after a fire broke out at the private girls’ dormitory in Aladağ. While the inspections and investigations have been continuing over the deadly incident, early reports by a team of experts suggested that major series of negligence was played role in the incident. 


Series of negligences followed each other

Electricity expert Muharrem Eşsizoğlu said he thought the fire might have been ignited due to the electricity distribution box that was located behind the main box, adding that the possible expiration of the switches inside the box might have caused the fire to begin.

“I have detected that there was no residual current device in the building’s electric system that would cut the building’s electricity in case of any leakages,” said Eşsizoğlu.

Mechanical and work safety expert Hasan İhsan Pepedil said there were no signs in the building leading to emergency exit doors and that the emergency exit door should not have caught fire for 90 minutes but caught fire as well because it was made of plastic.

The document added that the fire exit door on the first floor of the building did not have handles on it as they had been removed before the incident.

Meanwhile, the four political parties at parliament agreed on Dec. 1 to establish a committee over the incident in a bid to investigate potential negligence in the case.