Turkey collapse: More feared dead

Rescue workers believe there may be two survivors amid the wreckage

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Turkish rescue teams are searching for a Hungarian mother and her daughter trapped in the ruins of a small hotel a day after it collapsed killing two people.

The bodies of one man of Iranian origin and of a Turkish hotel worker were pulled from the rubble on Wednesday after the hotel collapsed during tunnelling work for a metro line in Istanbul's historic Aksaray district.

More than 40 people were pulled alive from the rubble. Nineteen were treated for injuries including broken bones, cuts and bruises.

The Hungarian mother and child were identified as missing but emergency workers using fibre-optic cameras fed into the rubble were unable to find them on Wednesday.

"We are trying to reach the Hungarian mother and the daughter," rescue worker Murat Uzan told Reuters. "We have started to lose hope because we could not find them despite looking all over the ruins," he said.

"They might have fallen into the metro tunnel which means we many not be able to find them at all," he said.

Three nearby buildings -- all evacuated -- also collapsed in the hours afterwards and four others were damaged and leaning to one side.

Istanbul Mayor Ali Mufit Gurtana told Reuters there was no conclusive evidence the collapse was caused by the tunnelling 15 metres (50 feet) below the surface.

Istanbul, its roads badly choked with traffic, is extending a metro system through the city to provide some relief from the heavy traffic.

Authorities ordered trains not to exceed 30 kph (18 mph) following the collapse to prevent further damage.

Police cordoned off the site of the collapsed hotel, which Reuters said was frequented by working-class Turks and budget tourists from Iran and Romania.