RIYADH: A court in Turkiye sentenced a builder to 865 years in prison on Friday for the shoddy construction of a 14-story apartment block that collapsed during a powerful earthquake, killing 96 people.
Hasan Alpargun was convicted of “having caused the death and injury of more than one person with possible intent,” court officials said.
The 14-story building in the southern Turkish city of Adana was destroyed by a massive 7.8-magnitude quake in February 2023 that killed more than 53,500 people in Turkiye and nearly 6,000 in Syria. Only one of the building’s residents survived.
The apartment block was built in 1975. Its collapse immediately aroused suspicions because Adana, although less than 200 km from the earthquake’s epicenter, was largely spared from the violent tremors.
Alpargun fled to northern Cyprus on the day of the quake, but turning himself over to police a week later.
During the trial experts pointed to serious deficiencies in the construction of the building's support columns, as well as the quality of concrete used. Alpargun’s defense was that the construction had been approved by the appropriate authorities.
More than 260 people involved in the construction of buildings that collapsed during the earthquake were arrested, some while trying to flee the coutry.
