Boy rescued six days after building collapse

A 16-year old boy has been rescued from the wreckage of a 10-storey apartment block in central Turkey, almost six days after …

A 16-year old boy has been rescued from the wreckage of a 10-storey apartment block in central Turkey, almost six days after the building collapsed.

The death toll from the disaster rose to 66 on Sunday and was expected to rise further, Anatolia news agency said.

Muhammet Kalem told rescuers he had survived under the rubble by conserving his energy, sleeping most of the time.

He was taken to hospital but was conscious and appeared in good condition.

READ MORE

Officials say faulty construction caused the 36-apartment building to collapse last Monday in an affluent district of Konya, a city 250 km south of the capital Ankara.

A five-metre-high pile of debris was all that remained of the recently-built block.

Police arrested two contractors on Wednesday over the incident.

Turkey's poor building standards and widespread graft have often been blamed for building collapses and the high death tolls from earthquakes that frequently strike the country, but few builders or developers have been convicted.