Dozens die in club fire

Tragedy as at least 29 workers are killed while rénovating city basement nightspot

- JEREMY ARMSTRONG

AT least 29 people have been killed after a nightclub caught fire in Turkey.

The Masquerade club, in the basement of a high-rise building in Istanbul, was closed for renovation.

The blaze broke out just after midday yesterday, the city's governor Davut Gul revealed, but the cause was unclear.

Mr Gul said that the victims of the fire, and the one person injured, were thought to have been working on the venue's revamp.

Firefighters surrounded the smoking entrance to the club, which occupies two floors under a 16-storey residential building in Gayrettepe in the Besiktas District.