At least 29 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a nightclub in central Istanbul.
The city governor's office said the fire broke out during daytime renovation work at a nightclub in the city's Gayrettepe district.
Firefighters and other first responders surrounded the charred and smoking entrance to the club, which occupies two floors underneath a 16-storey residential building.
The governor's office said one additional injured person was in critical condition at a hospital.
Firefighters at the scene in IstanbulGettyJustice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said that three prosecutors are investigating the blaze and five people were ordered to be detained.
Local media reports that firefighters intervened with 31 vehicles and 86 personnel in the fire.
Footage posted by the Istanbul Fire Department on X shows crews attending to the scene with several fire engines surrounding the smoking entrance to the building.
One person can be seen being carried out of the wreckage in the clip.
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Outside the nightclub in central Istanbul
Reuters
Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, said on X: "May God have mercy on our citizens who lost their lives, and I wish a speedy recovery to our injured."
Governor Davut Gul told reporters at the scene that the cause of the fire was under investigation, and the victims were believed to be involved in the renovation work.
Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is aware of the tragedy following a phone call with interior minister Ali Yerlikaya. Five people have been arrested in connection with the fire as investigations continue.
They include three workplace officials, the nightclub manager and the manager of the renovations.
A view following the outbreak of a fire at a nightclub in the basement of a 16-story building in Besiktas district of Istanbul
Getty
It comes as the country's pro-Kurdish DEM Party has called for authorities to reverse a block on one of its mayors taking office after local elections, and said it was challenging other results over what it called "illegal voters" that prevented it winning.
The challenges by DEM, parliament's third largest party, which performed well in the mainly Kurdish southeast, mark the biggest dispute over the results of Sunday's nationwide local vote in which President Tayyip Erdogan's party was trounced.
