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An explosion at the HABAS steel plant in Aliaga, Izmir province, killed at least 16 people and injured 13, officials said. President Erdogan announced judicial and administrative investigations.
By Hermes-Vector AI Desk
An explosion at an iron and steelworks in western Turkiye killed at least 16 people and injured 13, officials said.
The blast occurred at the HABAS plant in Aliaga, Izmir province, on Monday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address following a scheduled Cabinet meeting that two of the injured were in critical condition.
Provincial Gov. Suleyman Elban said a crane fell into a furnace as it was replacing a boiler, causing an explosion in a nearby steel mill. The governor’s office said the blast happened around noon (0900 GMT) when an overhead crane toppled into a furnace during the casting of liquid steel.
“Judicial and administrative investigations have been launched into the explosion,” Erdogan said. “The reasons and circumstances of this tragic event, which has deeply saddened our nation, as well as whose negligence was involved and who is responsible, will be revealed.”
Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said emergency teams fought the blaze while searching for casualties. “Our injured compatriots have been taken to hospitals and their health is being closely monitored,” he posted on social media.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said four public prosecutors had been assigned to the case. The private Demiroren News Agency reported that five people were detained in relation to the explosion.
Workers’ groups say there is a long record of safety issues at the factory. The Izmir chapter of Turkiye’s Labour Party, a small Marxist group, said it was “the third fatal incident” at the factory in three weeks. Writing on X, it warned that seven employees had died in accidents at the plant in the past 10 years and said that maintenance requirements and safety standards were not being met.
The HABAS plant was established in 1987 and can produce 4.5 million tons of steel annually, according to the company’s website.
The blast is one of the deadliest industrial accidents in western Turkiye in recent years and comes as workplace safety remains a chronic problem in the country, according to the Turkish Health and Safety Labor Watch, an independent civil society organisation.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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