PATTAYA — A 76-year-old Turkish engineer wanted in connection with the collapse of an apartment building during a devastating earthquake in Adana, Turkey, in February 2023 has been arrested at a hotel in this beach city, marking the end of a two-year international manhunt, the Bangkok Post reported.

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Abdullah Aybaba was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, according to investigators at the Chon Buri Immigration Bureau. Police searched a hotel in Pattaya at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday after receiving a tip-off that a foreign national with an active international arrest warrant was hiding there. Aybaba was taken into custody without incident and brought to the provincial immigration office, where officials revoked his visa. He was then handed over to investigators at the Nong Prue police station for further legal proceedings prior to extradition.

Turkish authorities had been seeking Aybaba’s arrest in connection with the collapse of the Sami Bey apartment building in the southern city of Adana following the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria on February 6, 2023. The quake, one of the deadliest in modern history, resulted in more than 60,000 deaths across both countries. In Adana alone, 40 people were killed and two others injured when the Sami Bey building collapsed. A subsequent investigation found that the building had been constructed with illegal, substandard materials, which directly contributed to its catastrophic failure during the quake.

PATTAYA – A Turkish engineer linked to the collapse of a building during a deadly earthquake in Adana, Turkey in February 2023 has been arrested at a hotel in this beach city in Chon Buri.

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Aybaba, acting as the contractor and construction supervisor for the project, is among four people facing trial for negligence causing death, with Turkish prosecutors seeking prison terms of up to two years. The charges relate to the use of substandard materials and the failure to adhere to building codes that could have withstood the earthquake’s forces. While two years may seem a modest sentence given the death toll, the case has become a symbol of the widespread shoddy construction practices that turned a natural disaster into a man-made catastrophe across southern Turkey.

According to the Turkish news site Haberler.com, Aybaba’s daughter, who has lived in England since 2017, is also a defendant in the case. She maintains her innocence, stating that shares in her father’s company had been transferred to her without her knowledge and that she had nothing to do with the construction project. Her legal fate remains unclear, but her father now faces extradition from Thailand to face justice in Turkey.

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For the families of the 40 victims who perished in the Sami Bey apartment building, Aybaba’s arrest in a Pattaya hotel room brings a measure of hope that accountability may finally be at hand. For the 76-year-old engineer, who fled Turkey and sought refuge in Thailand, the years of hiding have come to an end. He now faces return to the country where an earthquake exposed the deadly consequences of negligence, and where a grieving nation waits for answers. Thai authorities have confirmed that extradition proceedings are underway, though a timeline for Aybaba’s return to Turkey has not yet been announced.

-Thailand News (TN)