Crews work to free people trapped under collapsed apartment building in Istanbul

ISTANBUL — Emergency workers were trying to rescue people trapped after an apartment building collapsed in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Sunday.

TV images showed firefighters shifting rubble by hand from the flattened five-story building in Kucukcekmece on the city’s European side. Seven people had been pulled from the debris, including two who were seriously injured, and two others remained under the building, Istanbul Governor Davut Gul said while visiting the scene.

There were no reports of deaths, he added.

Gul’s office said the 36-year-old structure collapsed at 8:40 a.m. (0540 GMT). The cause was not immediately clear.

Images from a camera across the street showed passengers waiting to board a public minibus at the time of the collapse narrowly escaped being struck by falling debris.

More than 59,000 people were killed last year when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck parts of southern Turkey and neighboring Syria. The disaster highlighted the poor enforcement of building regulations in Turkey.