Dozens die in club fire
Tragedy as at least 29 workers are killed while renovating city basement nightspot
AT least 29 people have been killed after a nightclub caught fire in Turkey.
The Masquerade club, in the basement of a high-rise building in Istanbul, was closed for renovation.
The blaze broke out just after midday yesterday, the city’s governor Davut Gul revealed, but the cause was unclear.
Mr Gul said that the victims of the fire, and the one person injured, were thought to have been working on the venue’s revamp.
Firefighters surrounded the smoking entrance to the club, which occupies two floors under a 16-storey residential building in Gayrettepe in the Besiktas District.
Three people were arrested as an investigation was launched by police and city authorities and two arrest warrants have been issued.
They are thought to include the nightclub manager and the man in charge of the renovations.
Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, who was re-elected last week, said the club had not applied for the correct permit for the work.
He told reporters: “There is no application for renovation or construction, it was two floors down from the ground.”
Also offering his condolences to the victims’ families he wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “May God have mercy on our citizens who lost their lives, and I wish a speedy recovery to our injured.”
Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was aware of the tragedy following a phone call with interior minister Ali Yerlikaya.
Some of the victims died in hospital despite huge efforts to save them. The nightclub was closed for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Its owners were trying to complete the renovation work in time for next week’s Eid holiday, which follows the month of fasting, local TV reported. Authorities were inspecting the entire building last night to assess its safety.
Footage posted on X by the Istanbul Fire Department showed crews at the scene. Fire engines and ambulances surrounded the smoking entrance to the building as a search operation started.