Summary
- The blast struck the Habas Demir Celik plant in Aliaga, near Izmir.
- At least 16 people were confirmed dead by Turkey's president.
- Witnesses described the ground shaking, with some initially mistaking it for an earthquake.
The explosion occurred Monday at the facility in Aliaga, an industrial district on Turkey's Aegean coast known for its concentration of steel, petrochemical and shipbreaking operations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed the death toll of at least 16, though officials have not yet detailed the cause of the blast or specified how many workers remain hospitalized or unaccounted for.
Eyewitness accounts described a violent tremor that rippled through the surrounding area at the moment of the explosion, with some residents and workers initially believing an earthquake had struck. The force of the blast was followed by a large fire that engulfed sections of the plant, complicating rescue and firefighting efforts.
Aliaga hosts a dense cluster of heavy industry, including some of Turkey's largest steel producers, and has previously drawn scrutiny over workplace safety standards in a sector that handles molten metal, high-pressure gases and combustible materials. Industrial accidents at steel and metalworking facilities in Turkey have periodically raised questions about regulatory oversight, though it remains unclear whether safety lapses contributed to Monday's blast.
Turkish authorities are expected to launch a formal investigation into the explosion's cause, a process likely to examine equipment maintenance records, safety protocols and whether warning signs were missed in the lead-up to the incident. Labor unions and opposition politicians in Turkey have in the past used such disasters to press the government for tighter inspection regimes at industrial sites.
The scale of the casualties marks one of the deadliest industrial accidents in Turkey in recent years, and the death toll could rise as emergency crews continue to assess the damage and search the site. No information has yet been released on the nationalities of the victims or whether foreign workers were among those killed.