Turkey’s largest retail chain, Istanbul-listed BIM (BIMAS), has stated in a press release that it did not break or cut any bearings, columns or walls that could have changed the statics of the Yilmaz Erbek Apartments building in Izmir, which collapsed during the October 30 Aegean Sea earthquake.
Allegations suggesting that the apartment building collapsed due to renovations at the BIM store located on its ground floor were not a reflection of the truth, BIM said.
The first two floors of the building fell during the 7-magnitude earthquake, but an identical building next door remained stable.
Turkish Agriculture Minister Bekir Pakdemirli is a former board member of BIM.
On November 4, the quake death toll stood at 116. The injury count was 1,035, with 137 still hospitalised.
On November 3, rescuers pulled a three-year-old girl from the wreckage of her Izmir family home, 91 hours after the quake struck.
Mehmet Gulluoglu, head of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, said on November 4 that search and rescue operations had been completed at 17 buildings that fell in the city.
The quake was the deadliest to hit Turkey in nearly a decade.
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