Turkey steel plant explosion kills 17 and injures 13 as investigations begin

At least 17 people have been killed and 13 injured after an explosion and fire tore through the HABAS Iron and Steel plant in the Aliaga district of Turkey’s Izmir province on Monday (9 November 2026).

The blast occurred at around midday local time, when an overhead crane lifting a replacement boiler collapsed and fell into a furnace used during the liquid steel casting process, according to Euronews.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address following a scheduled Cabinet meeting that 16 people had died and 13 were injured, two of them critically.

Turkish media later reported that one of the critically injured workers had died in hospital, raising the death toll to 17. Euronews also reported that at least 17 people had lost their lives.

“The circumstances surrounding this tragic incident, which has deeply saddened our nation, including how and why it happened, whether there was any negligence and who bears responsibility, will be established,” Erdogan said.

He added that those found to have been negligent or responsible for the explosion would be held accountable, Türkiye Today reported.

How the explosion unfolded

The explosion occurred at the HABAS Demir Celik AS facility in the Bozkoy neighbourhood of Aliaga, about 60km north of the city of Izmir, according to the Izmir Governor’s Office.

Izmir Governor Suleyman Elban later put the time of the blast at about 11.46am.

Elban said the overhead crane fell while a boiler was being replaced, sending materials into the electric arc furnace below. According to the Turkish news site Diken, he said the falling materials struck a natural gas line, triggering the explosion.

Elban also said no production was under way at the time. Of the plant’s more than 300 employees, around 20 were at the scene because of the replacement work, Diken reported.

A fire broke out after the blast, sending smoke and a cloud of dust into the air. Firefighting, medical and search and rescue teams were dispatched to the site, Türkiye Today reported.

Eyewitnesses told Euronews that the explosion felt like an earthquake.

Nuri Ali Ulker, who was near the plant at the time, told the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) that the blast was extremely powerful. He said a cloud of dust and smoke rose before firefighters and ambulances began arriving.

“The ground shook. It was very powerful,” Ulker said.

Death toll rose through the day

Casualty figures were revised several times as rescuers worked through the debris. The governor’s office initially reported three dead, 14 injured and 10 people trapped under the rubble.

Authorities later reported six deaths, after one critically injured person died in hospital and two people were recovered from the rubble. A subsequent update raised the toll to 10.

At that stage, Elban said 15 injured workers remained in hospital and that four people were believed to still be trapped under the debris.

Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay said on X that rescue teams were “continuing their work to remove the collapsed platform” and that those affected were factory workers.

Tugay also said the full number of dead and injured would only become clear once the rubble had been cleared, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. Search and rescue teams continued working at the factory.

Investigations launched

Erdogan said judicial and administrative investigations had been launched, and that the relevant ministers had travelled to Izmir.

The Menemen Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation and assigned four prosecutors to the case. Five people were detained, according to Diken and Cumhuriyet, while Hürriyet later reported that seven people had been taken into custody.

Labour and Social Security Minister Vedat Isikhan said the Social Security Institution (SGK) had assigned a chief inspector to investigate the explosion and that the ministry was closely following developments.

Earlier in the day, Erdogan was briefed on the incident by Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci and Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, Milliyet reported.

Diken also reported that a broadcast ban had been imposed on coverage of the explosion.

Condolences from officials

Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz expressed condolences to the families of those killed and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

Communications Director Burhanettin Duran also offered condolences and said search, rescue and emergency response operations were continuing.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also expressed her condolences, Euronews reported.

Safety concerns at the plant

Workers’ groups said there was a long record of safety issues at HABAS, according to Euronews.

The Izmir branch of the Labour Party (EMEP) described the explosion as the third fatal incident at the factory in three weeks, AFP reported.

Before Monday’s explosion, the daily newspaper Evrensel said at least 11 workers had died while working at the plant over the past decade.

On 5 November 2026, Evrensel reported that Eyup Eginli, a 20-year-old subcontracted worker, had died at the HABAS plant in Aliaga after a tyre on a construction machine burst. Two other workers were lightly injured.

Citing the labour group Ege Isci Birligi (Aegean Workers’ Union), the newspaper said his death brought the number of workplace deaths in Aliaga this year to five.

HABAS, formally Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi AS, is a privately owned group and one of Turkey’s top steel producers.

The Aliaga plant was established in 1987 and can produce 4.5 million tonnes of steel annually, according to the company’s website.