Steel plant explosion in western Turkey kills 17 workers

An explosion at a steel plant in western Turkey on Monday, November 9, killed 17 workers, according to Turkish officials. It is one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the country in recent years, and prosecutors have already detained several people.

What happened

The blast happened at the HABAŞ iron and steel plant in Aliağa, a heavy-industry district in İzmir province on Turkey's Aegean coast. The area is home to steel mills, oil refineries and shipbreaking yards, and thousands of people work there.

The explosion took place while molten steel was being poured at one of the plant's electric arc furnaces. Workers were inside the building at the time, and rescue teams spent hours searching the site for people who could not be reached.

About the plant

HABAŞ is one of Turkey's largest private steel producers. Its Aliağa plant opened in 1987 and, according to the company, can produce about 4.5 million tons of steel a year, making steel sheet, wire rod and reinforcing bars used in construction. Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said about 1,800 people were working at the site at the time of the explosion. Turkey is one of the world's ten largest steel producers, and much of that steel comes from electric arc furnaces like the one involved here, which melt down scrap metal.

The number of victims

The figures changed through the day as rescuers worked:

• President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking after a cabinet meeting, said 16 workers had died, two were in serious condition and 13 more were being treated.
• Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu later said one of the seriously injured workers had died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 17.
• Turkish media report between 12 and 15 injured, depending on the time of the report.

What caused it

The official cause has not been confirmed, and the investigation is ongoing. Here is what has been said so far:

• The company says the accident happened during planned maintenance work at one of its electric arc furnaces.
• Labor Minister Vedat Işıkhan said the explosion followed material falling during that maintenance work.
• Early findings reported by Turkish media point to an overhead crane breaking and falling into the arc furnace while molten steel was being poured. When molten metal suddenly comes into contact with moisture or a large falling object, it can cause a violent explosion.

The investigation

President Erdoğan said both a criminal and an administrative investigation have been opened and that the causes and those responsible will be identified. Turkey's justice minister said four public prosecutors were assigned to the case. The investigation is being run by the chief prosecutor's office in nearby Menemen. Turkish media report that five to six people have been taken into custody, without naming them.

Some Turkish outlets report that the same company has had other worker deaths in recent weeks, including one a few days before the explosion. Those reports have not been confirmed by officials, and the company has not commented on them.

The families

Those killed were workers at the plant. Behind each number is a family that sent someone to work on an ordinary Monday. In Aliağa, heavy industry, including steel plants, refineries and shipbreaking yards, is the main source of jobs, so an accident like this is felt across the whole community. Rescue teams kept searching the site late into the night for workers who could not be reached in the first hours, and the injured were taken to hospitals in the İzmir area.

Why it matters

Workplace safety is a long-running concern in Turkey. The country regularly reports some of the highest numbers of workplace deaths in Europe, especially in construction, mining and heavy industry. In 2014, a mine disaster in Soma, in the same region of western Turkey, killed 301 miners and led to new safety laws. Unions and workers' families say rules are still not enforced strongly enough.

The HABAŞ explosion will add pressure on the government and on industry to show that safety rules are followed during risky work such as furnace maintenance.

What to watch next

• The official cause of the explosion once experts finish examining the site.
• Whether anyone is formally charged, and who.
• Whether the government orders safety inspections at other steel plants.