At least 16 people were killed and 13 injured in an explosion at a steel plant in western Türkiye on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.

The blast struck the HABAS factory in Aliaga, about 60 kilometres north of Izmir, at 11:46 a.m. local time on Nov. 9.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced an investigation and said two of the injured were in serious condition. Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay cautioned that the full number of casualties would only become clear after rubble was cleared.

According to Izmir’s governor, an overhead crane fell into a large industrial furnace while a boiler was being replaced, triggering the explosion.

Eyewitness Deniz Ulker described the blast as feeling like an “earthquake” and said thick black smoke rose from the factory, with fire near its chimney.

The explosion also prompted allegations of longstanding safety failures. The Izmir chapter of Türkiye’s Labour Party said it was the factory’s third fatal incident in three weeks and alleged that maintenance requirements and safety standards were not being met. Those allegations were not independently established in the supplied reporting.

Sources