A massive explosion ripped through an iron and steel plant in western Turkey on Monday, killing six people and setting off a fire as rescue teams dug through rubble in search of workers still trapped inside, officials said.
The blast at the HABAŞ plant in the Aliağa district of Izmir province also injured 13 people, two of them critically, the Izmir Governor’s Office said. The office revised its earlier figures after one injured person died in a hospital and two more bodies were recovered from the debris, The Associated Press noted.
The governor’s office said eight people remained trapped under the wreckage. Turkey’s Daily Sabah newspaper, citing the same office, put the number of people trapped at 10. The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled.
Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay cautioned that the final casualty count would not be known until the debris was cleared.
Crane plunged into furnace
The explosion occurred at about noon local time (0900 GMT) during the casting of molten steel, when an overhead crane collapsed into a furnace, the governor’s office said. Preliminary findings indicated the crane broke loose and fell into an electric arc furnace, setting off the blast, according to Daily Sabah. Authorities have opened an investigation.
Footage aired by broadcaster NTV showed flames engulfing part of the facility and a towering column of smoke rising over the site. Firefighters, medical crews and search-and-rescue teams were deployed, and the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said emergency crews were battling the fire while searching for victims. “Our injured compatriots have been taken to hospitals and their health is being closely monitored,” he wrote on social media.
‘I thought it was an earthquake’
Witnesses described a blast powerful enough to shake the ground and send thick black smoke billowing from the factory.
“The ground shook. It was very intense,” witness Nuri Ali Ülker told the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Another witness, Deniz Ülker, told Anadolu the explosion “felt like the earth’s crust was shifting beneath us. I thought it was an earthquake.”
A major industrial hub
The HABAŞ plant opened in 1987 and has the capacity to produce 4.5 million tons of steel a year, according to the company’s website.
Aliağa is home to a large port and a major shipbreaking industry. Critics say the shipbreaking yards have caused significant environmental damage, and there have been calls to strike the district’s facility from the European Union’s list of approved ship recycling sites.
The disaster struck as world leaders and environmental campaigners gathered in Antalya, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, for international climate talks.
Questions over industrial safety
The cause cited by the governor’s office, an overhead crane falling into a furnace of molten steel, points to one of the most dangerous scenarios in steelmaking. Electric arc furnaces hold metal at extreme temperatures, and any sudden intrusion of heavy equipment can trigger violent explosions and fires. That makes the investigation’s central questions straightforward but consequential: whether the crane failed mechanically, whether it was overloaded or poorly maintained, and whether safety protocols for lifting operations over molten metal were followed.
The answers will matter well beyond Aliağa. Turkey is one of the world’s leading steel producers, and its heavy industry employs large numbers of workers in high-risk environments. Workplace safety has been a recurring concern in the country, with labor groups long arguing that oversight and enforcement lag behind industrial growth. A deadly accident at a major producer is likely to intensify those calls and draw scrutiny of inspection regimes across the sector.
The conflicting figures on the number of people trapped, eight according to the governor’s office update cited by the AP and 10 according to Daily Sabah, reflect the confusion typical in the first hours of an industrial disaster. Mayor Tugay’s warning that the true toll will only emerge once rubble is cleared suggests the death count could rise.
The timing adds a further dimension. The explosion occurred as Turkey hosts global climate talks in Antalya, placing the country’s industrial and environmental record in an unusually bright spotlight. Aliağa already carries a reputation shaped by its shipbreaking industry and the environmental criticism surrounding it. A fatal blast at one of its largest steelworks is likely to sharpen questions about how Turkey balances rapid industrial expansion with worker protection and environmental standards, questions that delegates and activists in Antalya may be quick to raise.
For now, the immediate focus remains on the rescue effort and the families waiting for word on missing workers.
Sources: The Associated Press (AP); Daily Sabah; Anadolu Agency (AA); NTV
