Türkiye: nightclub that burned down did not have a renovation license, according to local authorities

lRenovation works on the nightclub that caught fire this Tuesday in Istanbulcausing the death of 29 people, presumably employees at work, They did not have a license from the City Council, according to municipal authorities.

“There is no request to make renovations to the interior of the premises. It is a basement two stories underground, so it is not visible from the outside and there were no complaints to the City Council. “You can say it was a clandestine intervention,” Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu told reporters.

There is no request to make renovations inside the premises (…) It can be said that it was a clandestine intervention

The Masquerade, a nightclub with a large stage, which hosted musical performances and, according to its website, a capacity of up to 4,000 people, caught fire at noon this Tuesdaycausing the death of 29 peoplewithout the causes of the disaster being known yet.

The store states on its website that it was going to be closed from March 10 to April 10 for a “design renovation” of the interior.

Imamoglu confirmed to the press that all the deceased were found in the basement of the 16-story building, adding that apparently They were all workers in the renovation work, although this has not yet been confirmed.

According to the newspaper Milliyet, 13 of the deceased have already been identified, including a bricklayer and a cook.

The mayor stressed that the club, opened in 1987, had renewed its license in 2018 and that the last report of a firefighting intervention at the premises dates back to 2006.

EFE