ISTANBUL: Emergency workers were trying to rescue people trapped under a collapsed apartment building in Istanbul on Sunday.

TV images showed firefighters shifting rubble by hand from the flattened three-story building in Kucukcekmece on the city’s European side. Two injured people were pulled from the debris, broadcaster CNN Turk reported.

The Istanbul governor’s office said the structure collapsed at 8:40 a.m. local time (0545 GMT). The cause was not immediately clear.

More than 59,000 people were killed last year when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck parts of southern Turkiye and neighboring Syria. The disaster highlighted the poor enforcement of building regulations in Turkiye.