Explosion at steel plant in Izmir's Aliağa kills 10 workers, four still missing

An explosion at the HABAŞ steel factory in Aliağa, a district of the western Turkish city of İzmir, has killed 10 people. Search teams are still working to reach four more people believed to be trapped.

What happened?

The blast happened around 12:00 on Monday, 9 November. A fire broke out afterwards.

Izmir Governor Süleyman Elban said 15 people were injured and four of them are in serious condition. The injured were taken to hospitals in the area. He added that officials believe four people are still under the rubble and that the search will continue until the last worker is found.

According to the governorate's first findings, an overhead crane snapped and fell into the arc furnace while liquid steel was being cast. That is a preliminary account, and the investigation is only beginning.

Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said workers at the plant, together with the emergency teams, were continuing search-and-rescue work and firefighting.

What is being investigated?

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the Menemen Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation and assigned four prosecutors to it.

Labour Minister Vedat Işıkhan said the Social Security Institution (Turkey's state social insurance body) has sent a chief inspector to look into the incident.

The İSİG Assembly, a workers' health and safety monitoring group, said two other workers at the same factory, Hakan Doğan and Eyüp Eğinli, had died in workplace accidents over the last two weeks. It also said the Ege Workers' Union hung a banner on the plant's walls protesting worker deaths, and that the banner was taken down during the day.

What are politicians saying?

Opposition leaders Özgür Özel and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu both sent condolences. Özel said, "Our condolences to Aliağa and all of İzmir."

Kılıçdaroğlu said preventing workplace accidents, protecting workers' right to life and fully applying safety measures is a responsibility that cannot be postponed. He called for the explosion to be investigated from every angle.

What's next?

The search for the four people believed to be under the rubble continues, and the death toll could still change. The prosecutors' and inspectors' work will show what caused the blast.