A fire that raged from the basement of a 16-storey block in central Istanbul left at least 29 people dead Tuesday, with flames and thick smoke billowing for hours despite a massive emergency response. By late afternoon around 20 fire trucks and ambulances were still crowded around the building, where builders had been working on a nightclub in the basement. A police cordon kept onlookers and traffic 100 metres (yards) away from the scorched facade, while an AFP reporter saw three exhausted firefighters sat on the ground with smoke-blackened faces and equipment. The fire began at 12:47 (0947 GM…