Earthquake - Construction defects at the hotel? Major trial after quake in Turkey
Eleven months after the severe earthquakes in Turkey, the collapse of a hotel and the deaths of young volleyball players are to be investigated in the first major trial.
Today, a hotel owner and ten other defendants are on trial in Adiyaman in southern Turkey. The public prosecutor's office accuses them of being responsible for the deaths of 72 people. According to experts, the hotel had massive construction defects.
Accusation of the public prosecutor
The four-star hotel collapsed in the early morning quake on February 6, 2023, burying two volleyball school teams from Northern Cyprus with 26 children, among others. A group of tour guides who were on a training course were also buried. The youngest victim was ten years old. Parents of the victims and observers from Northern Cyprus traveled to the trial. They tearfully held up signs with pictures of their dead children in front of the court in Adiyaman.
Rusen Karakaya, who lost her 14-year-old daughter, said: "Everyone who built the Grand Isias Hotel is guilty." She will not rest until those responsible, from the builder to those who issued the permit, are held accountable, she said.
The public prosecutor's office accuses the defendants of deliberately causing death by negligence and injuring more than one person. The defendants face more than 22 years in prison in the extreme case. Five of them, including the hotel owner who acted as the builder and the architect, are in custody. They deny the accusations.
Construction defects and planning errors
In view of the construction defects and planning errors, the relatives are demanding an indictment for alleged intent. This would result in harsher penalties. A separate investigation is to clarify the responsibility of the authority employees who issued the permits.
On February 6, a 7.7-magnitude quake struck south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria at 4.17 a.m., followed by another 7.6-magnitude quake in the afternoon of the same day. According to government figures, around 50,800 people lost their lives in Turkey alone. According to an official report, more than 35,000 buildings collapsed completely and tens of thousands more were damaged.
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Source: www.stern.de
