Collapsed building's constructor arrested at airport

The constructor of a building complex that collapsed in the 6 February earthquake in Turkey was arrested when he was trying to flee the country, Turkish state news agency AA reported.

The construction contractor Mehmet Yasar Coskun was arrested in Istanbul Airport on Friday upon a tip received by the police that he would attempt to leave for abroad, AA said.

Bahadir Ozgur of daily Birgun said on Twitter that Coskun's brother lives in Montenegro and that the website of his company was shut down yesterday.

Allegations against Coskun are yet unknown.

The twelve-storey Ronesans Residences in the city of Antioch (officially Antakya), built by Coskun's construction company, consists of 250 apartments that accommodate hundreds of people, many of whom have been trapped under the rubble in the earthquake.

The residences had been marketed with an advertising campaign that said, "A spot from heaven."

Nine-year-old Ege Yilmaz was rescued from under the rubble yesterday.

Antioch, the capital of Turkey's southern border province of Hatay, are among the worst-hit cities in the earthquake.