Turkish police have arrested at least 12 people on suspicion of negligence regarding collapsed buildings. In addition, people who looted shops were arrested. There have been 1,891 aftershocks since Monday’s first earthquake, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said
At least 12 people have been arrested in Turkey for their role in the collapse of buildings during last Monday’s devastating earthquake, local media reported.
Most of the detainees are contractors. They are accused of negligence regarding the collapsed buildings in the southeastern provinces of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa. Another contractor was arrested at Istanbul airport on Friday while trying to flee to Montenegro.
The public prosecutor in Diyarbakir issued about 30 arrest warrants on Saturday, Diyarbakir is among the 10 southeastern provinces affected by the earthquake.
In Adana province, which also suffered many deaths, the prosecutor’s office issued an arrest warrant for 62 people, the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday. Turkey’s Justice Ministry has ordered prosecutors in the 10 affected provinces to set up investigative offices to look into “earthquake crimes.”
Turkish authorities also arrested 48 people in eight provinces for looting and theft that occurred after the earthquake that claimed the lives of approximately 27,000 people in Turkey and Syria, and injured approximately 90,000 more. There have been 1,891 more aftershocks since Monday’s first earthquake, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said.
The rescue forces pulled a baby and an elderly woman alive from the ruins on Saturday. The state news agency Anadolu reported that the two-month-old baby was found alive in Turkey 128 hours after the earthquake.
The border crossing between Armenia and Turkey was opened for the first time in 35 years. The border crossing was opened to allow humanitarian aid to pass through. The state news agency said it was the first time the crossing had opened since 1988, when Turkey sent aid to Armenia following an earthquake that killed about 30,000 people.
The two countries have never established official diplomatic relations and their common border has been closed since the 1990s. In December 2021, the two countries appointed envoys to help normalize relations.