Istanbul: Firefighters are working on the facade after a fire broke out in a residential nightclub.
Image: dpa
Surveillance camera footage shows a worker working with a welding torch in the damaged 16-story building. Flames erupt all at once. There should be no householders among the dead.
NTurkish authorities say illegal welding caused a fire in Istanbul that killed at least 29 people. Surveillance camera footage released by the Turkish Interior Ministry on Wednesday showed a worker using a welding torch to weld a metal object inside the stricken 16-story building, then suddenly burst into flames and billowing thick smoke.
On Tuesday, the local authority responsible for Istanbul's Besiktas district announced that the owners of the nightclub in the building had not requested renovations. A total of nine people, including the owner and manager of the nightclub, were arrested after the fire, according to the Istanbul governor's office.
The investigation into the fire continues, the Turkish Ministry of the Interior announced via the online service X. According to current knowledge, 29 workers had died in the fire. No one among the residents of the house was killed.
“I lost four friends,” Fikret Kaya, 40, told AFP. Local resident Erkan Karakoc told AFP the nightclub was closed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.