Court finds no responsible party in deadly Istanbul elevator accident case

ISTANBUL

The responsible party has not been determined by the court in the case into an elevator crash in September 2014, in which 10 workers were killed in central Istanbul, in the first hearing of the case on Oct. 27, Doğan News Agency has reported.

The expert 103-page report issued by the court on Oct. 27 described the deadly accident that occurred at the Torunlar Construction Company in Istanbul’s Şişli district as “preventable,” but found no party responsible.

The report stated that there were no working switches between the floors to halt the elevator before the accident. Those responsible for the working of the switches were to blame for the accident, but the court did not announce any specific names.

Nine suspects in the case – identified as Önder Türksoy, Ümit Savul, Turgay Dalkıç, Adem Akyıldız, Murat Aytimur, Bünyamin Keskin, Emre Öz, Ahmet Said Demir and Mert Çanakçı - were found “accidentally guilty” by the court due to lack of records about the conditions of contract, maintenance, evaluation, and evidence in the file.  

Sixteen suspects were found not guilty, according to the report.

Tension rose in the courtroom after the brother of İsmail Sarıtaş, one of the workers who died in the incident, shouted at the suspects’ lawyer, claiming that the lawyer was mocking him.

Chief judge Bülent Dalkıran requested that Sarıtaş’s brother be removed from the courtroom following the incident.

The lawyers for the workers killed in the accident reacted angrily after Sarıtaş’s brother was removed from the courtroom.     

The case relates to the deadly accident that occurred in September 2014, when 10 workers were killed at a construction site in the Mecidiyeköy neighborhood of Istanbul’s Şişli when an elevator carrying them suddenly plunged to the ground from the 32th floor.

The accident occurred at the construction site of the Torunlar Center, which was being built on the former site of Galatasaray football club’s Ali Sami Yen Stadium.

The elevator malfunctioned while the workers were trying to leave the construction site after the completion of their shift.