Twelve people have been rescued from the rubble of the building that collapsed on Wednesday in Istanbul's Kartal neighbourhood, south of the Aydos Forest, on the Asian side of Turkey's largest city, Efe news reported.

According to the Governor's office statement, rescue work continued on Thursday in search of survivors, though it was not specified how many people were still trapped under the debris.

Governor Ali Yerlikaya said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was following up on the situation, according to the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu.

Yerlikaya told reporters that the building housed 14 apartments and that 43 people were registered as living or working there.

The building, constructed in 1992, had only been granted planning permission for five storeys, he said, meaning the top three storeys were added on illegally.

There were fears that passersby could also have been buried in the rubble as Zeki Dag, a local district administrator in Kartal, said about five cars were also trapped under the collapsed building.

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