ISTANBUL, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish gendarmerie on Friday fired tear gas and used water cannons against workers who stopped working on the new airport in Istanbul to protest against poor working conditions.
According to CNN Turk, several workers were injured as they were running away from the intervention, with some badly affected by the tear gas.
The broadcaster said hundreds of workers, who have been living in quarters at the construction site, gathered in front of the administration building demanding for improvement in working conditions.
The workers claimed that they have been working under unsafe conditions, which have caused multiple deaths and injuries, press reports said.
"We had a bus accident on Thursday and one of our friends was injured. Previously, another one fell from the roof and was wounded, while another one was trapped under debris," the Cumhuriyet daily quoted a worker as saying, adding the actual number of the injured has not been revealed.
According to the daily, the authorities admitted that over 30 workers had died since the construction began in May 2015, but workers argued that the number was much higher.
Workers have also complained that they have been waiting under bad weather conditions for shuttle buses and their dormitories are full of bedbugs and fleas, Cumhuriyet said.
More than 35,000 workers have been working on the construction of the airport, which is slated to be inaugurated at the end of October.
