A fire in an Istanbul nightclub killed dozens during renovation work, state media said

CNN
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At least 29 people have died in a fire that broke out during daytime repair work at a nightclub in the city Istanbul, TürkiyeAccording to official media reports, Tuesday.

The Istanbul governor's office said eight other people were injured, seven of them in serious condition.

The governor's office said that the fire broke out in the Besiktas area in central Istanbul, on the European side of the city, and that all the victims were construction workers.

State media reported that the fire started shortly before 1 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET), in a 16-story building on Gonenoglu Street, a busy part of Istanbul's Kayretape neighborhood. The nightclub is called the Masquerade Club, according to a CNN producer at the scene.

The Turkish Anatolia news agency said that the fire broke out during renovation work at the underground site.

TRT News reported that Turkish authorities arrested eight people in connection with the fire, including the nightclub's business manager, his accountant and his partners, in addition to the person in charge of the metal workers associated with the renovation.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tonk said authorities were collecting evidence from the site.

He wrote on the X website: “A team of 3 experts specialized in occupational safety and firefighting continues their work to determine the cause of the fire.”

Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, sent his condolences on social media.

“May God have mercy on our citizens who lost their lives,” he wrote on the X website.

Imamoglu, from the opposition Republican People's Party, was re-elected as mayor on Sunday in local elections marked by change. The biggest electoral defeat Until now for the Justice and Development Party led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

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Umut Sevdi Tanjur in Istanbul contributed to this report.