2 Killed, Syrians Missing in Apartment Building Collapse in Central Türkiye

Emergency and rescue team members work in the aftermath of a building that collapsed in the city of Konya, central Türkiye, early Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (Ugur Yildirim/Dia Photo via AP)
Emergency and rescue team members work in the aftermath of a building that collapsed in the city of Konya, central Türkiye, early Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (Ugur Yildirim/Dia Photo via AP)
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2 Killed, Syrians Missing in Apartment Building Collapse in Central Türkiye

Emergency and rescue team members work in the aftermath of a building that collapsed in the city of Konya, central Türkiye, early Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (Ugur Yildirim/Dia Photo via AP)
Emergency and rescue team members work in the aftermath of a building that collapsed in the city of Konya, central Türkiye, early Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (Ugur Yildirim/Dia Photo via AP)

Rescuers pulled the bodies of a 23-year-old woman and a man believed to be her husband from under a collapsed apartment building in central Türkiye on Saturday, state-run media said.

Three other people were rescued from the wreckage and were being treated in a hospital, Anadolu Agency reported.

The collapse comes amid renewed focus on building safety following the deaths of 78 people in a fire Tuesday that ripped through a 12-story hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Türkiye. Investigators are examining whether proper fire prevention measures were in place.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Saturday that 79 people were registered as living in the four-story apartment block in the city of Konya, some 260 kilometers (160 miles) south of the capital, Ankara.

Earlier, Yerlikaya said the last two people remaining under the debris were Syrian nationals. He added that the cause of the building collapse was not immediately known. “If there is a fault, negligence or anything else, we will learn it together,” he told journalists.

TV images showed emergency workers sifting through a large pile of rubble Saturday morning following the collapse the previous evening. Anadolu Agency reported that four people linked to businesses operating on the building's ground floor were detained as part of the investigation.

The second anniversary of an earthquake that hit southern Türkiye and north Syria, killing more than 59,000 people, is just two weeks away. The high death toll at the time was due in part to building safety regulations being ignored.

In 2004, a 12-story apartment building collapsed in Konya, claiming the lives of 92 people and injuring some 30 others. Structural flaws and negligence were blamed for the collapse.



Large Russian Drone Attack Injures Civilians in Central Ukraine

Rescuers work at the site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Dolynska, in Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, February 18, 2025. Head of Kirovohrad Regional Military Administration Andrii Raikovych via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
Rescuers work at the site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Dolynska, in Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, February 18, 2025. Head of Kirovohrad Regional Military Administration Andrii Raikovych via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
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Large Russian Drone Attack Injures Civilians in Central Ukraine

Rescuers work at the site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Dolynska, in Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, February 18, 2025. Head of Kirovohrad Regional Military Administration Andrii Raikovych via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
Rescuers work at the site of a residential building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Dolynska, in Kirovohrad region, Ukraine, February 18, 2025. Head of Kirovohrad Regional Military Administration Andrii Raikovych via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS

A large-scale overnight Russian drone attack hit a residential building in the city of Dolynska in central Ukraine, injuring a mother and her two children and forcing evacuations from 38 apartments, a regional official said on Tuesday.
"A difficult night for the Kirovohrad region," Andriy Raikovych, the region's governor, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. "An enemy drone hit a high-rise building in Dolynska."
The mother and one of the children were taken to hospital, said Raikovych, who posted photos of flames bursting out of windows of a high-story apartment building.
The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday that Russia launched 176 drones in a large-scale attack.
Ukraine's air force shot down 103 of the drones and 67 did not reach their targets, probably due to electronic countermeasures, the military said.
According to Reuters, it did not specify what happened to the remaining six drones, but said that Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Cherkasy regions were impacted.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said that drone debris fell in one of the districts of the capital, causing a fire at an industrial enterprise.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Both Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians in the war, which Russia started with its full-scale invasion on Ukraine nearly three years ago. But thousands of civilians have died in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.
The attack took place as top Russian and US officials are meeting in Saudi Arabia for talks - without the participation of Kyiv or its European allies - on how to end the war in Ukraine.