15 dead in Istanbul building collapse

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish emergency services today recovered four more bodies from the rubble of an eight-story building that crashed down in Istanbul, bringing the death toll to 15. One man said he lost nine members of his extended family.

Earlier in the day, rescuers pulled a 16-year-old boy out alive from under the rubble two days after the collapse, raising the number of people who have been rescued to 14.

Friends and relatives waited near the wreckage for news of their missing loved ones as emergency teams, aided by sniffer dogs, worked around the clock to reach possible survivors.

Nedim Alemdar said 14 relatives were living in three separate apartments in the building that collapsed in the Kartal district on the Asian side of the city. The building had been the family's home for 25 years, he said.

"We have nine losses. My elder brother, our siblings, our children are all gone," Alemdar, 43, told The Associated Press. "This is beyond imagination."

Three other family members were being treated in the hospital, including his 9-year old son, who was trapped in the rubble for nine hours before he was rescued.

"It was an old building, there were some noises ... we could sense there was something wrong, but we didn't think much of it," he said outside the hospital.