A fire killed 15 people and injured eight in a residential building in Istanbul Tuesday, the governor of Turkey's economic capital said.

"The number of people who lost their lives in the fire in the Gayrettepe neighbourhood is now at 15 dead and eight people have been hurt, seven of them severely," governor Davut Gul's office said in a statement.

Those wounded had "been transferred to hospitals in the region" and "an investigation is underway" the authority added.

The blaze had broken out during construction work in the basement of a 16-story building in Gayrettepe, part of central Istanbul district Besiktas, Gul told reporters.

Newly-re-elected Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who rushed to the scene, said that the basement had housed a nightclub.

"The fire is under control. Let's hope there are no further victims," Imamoglu said, offering his "condolences" to the relatives of the dead and injured.