A seven-storey building collapsed in the Maltepe district of Istanbul.
Three floors of the flat, consisting of a total of 12 flats, collapsed. According to initial findings, 33 people were living in the building where the collapse occurred. Istanbul Governorship announced that two dead bodies were found in the rubble.
While the teams' search and rescue efforts at the scene continued, it was noteworthy that there were cracks in some areas of the building in Google Street View images recorded in January 2026.
Speaking in the NTV broadcast, Maltepe Mayor Esin Köymen announced that the two floors above the building were illegal. Köymen said, "We opened the entire archive in the municipality and checked whether the building was risky. It is a building built in the 80s. According to the information in the archive, after the occupancy was granted, the upper two floors of the building are illegal." he said.
Prof. from Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University. Dr. Şevket Özden made a striking assessment about why the building may have collapsed.
The building where the collapse occurred is located on Doğu Street in Cevizli District. The construction year of the building was 1987. After the collapse of the building, which had two floors on top, the allegation of cutting columns was brought to the agenda.
It appears that there was a workplace on the ground floor of the building where the collapse occurred in the morning. It was reported that the workplace in question was a textile workshop. The photos in question show that the plaster has fallen off in some areas of the building and the iron underneath has become visible.
"The collapsed building in Maltepe has two murderers." said Prof. Dr. Özden said that one of these is the additional floors, and the second is the abandoned area under the building and the corroded carrier irons.
Calling on citizens to check the carriers in the basements of their homes, Özden said, "If there is such severe corrosion, an engineer must be consulted to repair and eliminate it immediately. Otherwise, we will continue to experience similar problems." he said.
Prof. Dr. Özden noted that urban transformation alone will not be sufficient and that there is a need for regulation in terms of strengthening buildings. Özden said, "At the point of reinforcement, we should design such interventions that we should move the people living in the house to a minimum." he said.
"In addition to urban transformation, an urban strengthening campaign must also be started." Özden said, "Otherwise, we cannot prepare ourselves for earthquakes. Can such buildings be strengthened? Of course." he said.
Speaking in the NTV broadcast, Civil Engineer Şeref Alpago pointed out that the structure was tired.
"Here we see a floor that is higher than the other floors and has more openings." Alpago said, "This picture has always scared us. There is also the possibility that the columns have been cut here or the infill walls in between have collapsed." he said.
Alpago continued:
- The most basic problem is this; It is obvious that this building has a structural weakness. It's a tired building, there may have been corrosion. The area may also have been examined as a ground. All of these need to be evaluated.
"WE NEED TO BRING EMPOWERMENT TO THE TABLE"
Pointing out that a weakness in any part of the structure can affect the entire structure, Alpago said, "Structural deterioration, subsequent deformations, corrosion... When we put them all in a bag, unfortunately we cannot lift that bag from the ground." he said.
Alpago said:
- We actually need to bring both urban transformation and empowerment to the table. If these buildings are analyzed and strengthened, strengthening can sometimes be solved with very simple processes.
