At least 29 people have been killed in a fire in a nightclub in Turkey, reports the BBC.
The club was in the basement of a high-rise building in Istanbul. It was closed and undergoing renovations during the day.
Speaking to the media, Istanbul governor Davut Gül said the cause of the fire was not yet clear. Gül also said that the victims of the fire were employees, but it is not clear whether they were contractors or employees of the nightclub.
The investigation is underway. Several people have been arrested in connection with the fire as investigations continue. They include the nightclub manager and the manager of the renovations.
The Mayor of İstanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, offered his condolences on social media.
“May God have mercy on our citizens who lost their lives, and I wish a speedy recovery to our injured,” he said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is aware of the tragedy following a phone call with interior minister Ali Yerlikaya.
