At least one person died and 17 others were injured when a hotel in Aksaray in the historic center of Istanbul on the European side collapsed early Wednesday, the city's governor said.
One body has been found and the all the injured were hospitalized, Governor Erol Cakir told reporters.
"The emergency services are trying to rescue at least five more people from under the rubble," he said, adding the toll from the accident could still rise.
Earlier, Turkish television reported rescuers as saying that seven people were buried under the rubble, six of them Romanians and one Iranian.
Beneath the two-story building, construction work was being carried out on a metro line and cracks had earlier appeared in the walls -- ISTANBUL (AFP)
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