Death toll rises in Istanbul building collapse

“Since our last statement, two more children have died,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu is quoted as telling reporters at the scene.

Rescuers continue to comb through the wreckage of the building in an eastern suburb of Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest city, more than two days after it fell down.

Hopes that more survivors might be found were raised early Friday when a 16-year-old boy was pulled alive from the rubble, the news agency said. A day earlier, a five-year-old girl was rescued from the debris.

Thirty residents were inside the building, which contained 14 apartments, when it collapsed Wednesday, Anadolu said.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Friday that 13 injured people were receiving hospital treatment, with seven of them in intensive care, Anadolu reported.

Investigators are looking into the cause of the collapse.