A contractor responsible for the construction of a high-rise building in southern Turkey that collapsed in the deadly February 6, 2023 earthquake, killing 96 people, has been sentenced to 865 years in prison.
The 14-story apartment building in Adana collapsed after the first earthquake measuring 7.8, which occurred at 4:17 am. Only one of the building’s occupants survived.
The earthquake and subsequent tremors killed more than 53,500 people in Türkiye and nearly 6,000 in neighboring Syria.
According to the Turkish press, contractor Hasan Alpargun, today convicted of “causing death and injury to more than one person with bad intentions”, fled to occupied Cyprus on the day of the earthquake, before handing himself in to the police a week later.
At a distance of 200 km
The collapse of the apartment building, built in 1975, immediately after the earthquake raised serious questions, as Adana, less than 200 km from the epicenter, did not suffer major damage from the earthquake’s tremors.
Experts during the test pointed out serious deficiencies in the construction of the columns necessary to support a building, as well as in the quality of the concrete used in construction.
The contractor defended himself by claiming that the construction had been approved by the authorities.
More than 260 people involved in the construction of buildings that collapsed in the February 6, 2023 earthquake were arrested in the weeks following the earthquake, some trying to escape.
RES-MEB