Turkey steelworks explosion kills 10, injures 15, governor says

An explosion and fire at the HABAS steelworks in western Turkey killed 10 people Monday, Izmir Governor Suleyman Elban said.

Elban said 15 people were injured, while rescuers continued searching for four believed trapped under debris at the plant in Aliaga, Izmir province.

The blast occurred around noon (09:00 GMT) as liquid steel was being cast and an overhead crane fell into a furnace, the Izmir Governor's Office said.

"It was like a bomb going off," Turan Ilbay, a truck driver at the plant, told the Anadolu news agency.

The production line was changing shifts rather than actively producing steel, Elban said, and some 200 workers were there instead of the expected 300.

The governor's office had earlier recorded three deaths, 14 injuries and 10 missing people. It was not immediately known whether those believed trapped were alive or what the names of the dead and injured were.

Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay wrote on X that the initial fire had been extinguished. "Unfortunately, we have received preliminary information indicating a large number of deaths and injuries among people working at the factory. The exact number will become clear once the wreckage has been removed," Tugay wrote.

Rescue teams were "continuing their work to remove the collapsed platform," Tugay said.

Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said emergency teams battled the fire as they searched for casualties. "Our injured compatriots have been taken to hospitals and their health is being closely monitored," Ciftci wrote on social media.

"The ground shook. It was very intense," witness Nuri Ali Ulker said.

Deniz Ulker, who was passing nearby, said the explosion "felt like the earth's crust was shifting beneath us. I thought it was an earthquake."

Broadcaster NTV aired images showing a large fire inside the plant and a tall column of rising smoke.

The Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP), a leftist opposition party, called the explosion "workplace homicide" and said it showed Turkey disregards occupational health and safety. TIP leader Erkan Bas wrote online that the "regime of bosses has declared war on the workers."

Union leader Basaran Aksu said the pursuit of profit was costing workers their lives and that "the massacre calls for the resignation of the minister of labor."

Two Aegean Workers' Collective representatives were arrested outside the hospital where injured people were taken as they tried to make a statement on workplace safety, a spokesman for the group told AFP.

The independent Health and Safety Labor Watch, a nongovernmental organization, recorded 226 workplace deaths throughout Turkey in September.

HABAS says on its website that the plant was established in 1987 and has annual steel production capacity of 4.5 million tons. Aliaga is roughly 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Izmir and is known for shipbreaking and its large port.

The blast occurred as world leaders and environmental activists gathered for climate change talks in Antalya, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

The governor's office said an investigation had begun. Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said four public prosecutors had been assigned to the case.