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 8:40am local time. 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 Turkey and neighbouring Syria. The disaster highlighted the poor enforcement of building regulations in Turkey.
