Lawsuit Filed Against 3 in Said Bey Site Collapse Case Where 46 Died

Legal proceedings have been initiated against three individuals in connection with the collapse of the Said Bey Site apartment building in Kahramanmaraş, which resulted in 46 fatalities during the February earthquakes.

The Kahramanmaraş Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has filed charges of "conscious negligence leading to death and injury" against Sıla Avğın and Zehra Betül Kayserili, officials from the ZBK Construction Inspection Company, and İsmail Kurt, a structural project and implementation supervisor involved in the building's construction.

This development stems from a court's decision on April 10th to file a criminal complaint against the ZBK company and to secure an additional expert report. The court was overseeing the trial of eight defendants, one of whom is currently detained, related to the building's collapse.

An indictment states that the ZBK Construction Inspection Company was found to be at fault for not conducting the building's inspection in accordance with legal provisions. The report indicated that the supervisors, with their professional knowledge, should have foreseen the potential consequences of an earthquake but failed to uphold their duty of care by not inspecting the structure according to regulations.

Further legal action is anticipated, as an indictment is expected against construction site inspector Mehmet Şen and public officials Emrehan Abacıoğlu and Mustafa Kaynar, who were also identified in the latest expert report as having responsibility for the building's collapse.