Follow-Up: Death Toll in Türkiye's HABAŞ Steel Plant Blast Rises to 18; the Company's Chairman Is Detained
The death toll from the November 9 explosion at the HABAŞ iron and steel plant in Aliağa, İzmir province, has risen to 18 after search teams on November 10 recovered the body of a worker who had been missing since the blast, and prosecutors have ordered the detention of 11 people, including the company's chairman.
HABAŞ board chairman Mehmet Rüştü Başaran was detained in Istanbul's Kartal district on November 10 and was expected to be taken to İzmir for questioning. At least 12 workers were injured, one of them critically. Four prosecutors have been assigned to the criminal investigation, and a local court has imposed a publication ban on reporting about the incident until the investigation is completed.
The explosion occurred at about 11:46 a.m. local time on November 9, when an overhead crane fell into an electric arc furnace during steel casting. The toll rose in steps: the İzmir governor's office first reported 3 dead, then 6, then 10; President Erdoğan said 16 had been killed after a cabinet meeting, the health minister's update took it to 17, and the recovery of the missing worker, identified in Turkish media as Güner Gökçe, brought it to 18. GSM first reported the blast on November 9 with a toll of 17.
The disaster has also sparked protests and demands for accountability from labor unions, who blame unsafe working conditions; an opposition leader has called for two ministers to resign. The plant had two other fatal incidents in the previous three weeks: a 55-year-old worker died in a fall on October 21, and a 20-year-old worker was killed on November 5 when a heavy vehicle tire exploded during inflation.
(Source: Agence France-Presse)
Source: Agence France-Presse
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：钢铁厂高炉资料图（英国 Scunthorpe 钢铁厂）。照片：Gareth James 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons，本站档案图复用。 / Photo: Blast furnaces at a steelworks (file photo: Scunthorpe Steelworks, UK). Photo by Gareth James, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; GSM archive reuse.
