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The blast struck the Habas iron and steel manufacturing facility in the Aliaga industrial district of Izmir around noon local time, according to the provincial governor’s office. Initial findings from that office indicated that an overhead crane snapped during liquid steel casting and plunged into an electric arc furnace, producing large plumes of grey dust visible in footage broadcast by local television stations. The governor’s office confirmed that those injured in the incident were transferred to nearby hospitals for treatment while search and rescue teams worked to reach workers trapped beneath debris.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the death toll to 16 in remarks following a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Reuters reported. The Izmir governor’s office had earlier placed the initial count at three dead with 14 injured and 10 missing, but the figures climbed as one hospitalized worker succumbed to injuries and additional bodies were recovered from the rubble, Deutsche Welle and Bloomberg noted in separate dispatches. Two of the injured were reported in serious condition, the governor’s office added.
Rescue operations continued through the afternoon at the site where a platform had collapsed, Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay stated on X. Tugay cautioned that the precise number of casualties would only be confirmed once debris clearance was complete, a point echoed by the governor Suleyman Elban in televised updates. Witnesses described the force of the explosion as resembling an earthquake or a bomb detonating, according to accounts gathered by Anadolu Agency and relayed by dpa international.
Habas ranks among Turkey’s leading steel producers and operates the facility, which was established in 1987 and has an annual production capacity of 4.5 million tons, the company said on its website. The Aliaga region functions as a major industrial hub hosting ship recycling yards, an oil refinery, chemical plants and additional steelworks, a dpa international assessment found. Only about 200 workers were present at the time because the incident occurred during a shift change rather than peak operations, the governor’s office reported.
The Turkish Steel Producers’ Association figures show the country’s crude steel output rose 6.1 percent to 29.77 million tonnes in the first nine months of 2026 even as the sector grapples with safety challenges. A bianet.org review of open sources documented a pattern of fatal accidents at the Habas Aliaga complex stretching back to the late 1990s, including a 1999 ladle collapse that killed four workers and a 2007 scrapyard munitions explosion that claimed one life. Evrensel daily placed the toll at a minimum of 11 worker deaths over the past decade at the plant alone.
In 2013 four separate accidents occurred within a month at the facility, one of which electrocuted a worker using faulty equipment, according to labour rights compilations published by bianet.org and soL haber. A 2018 electrode fracture in a 150-tonne furnace sprayed molten steel, injuring five and leading to one later death, while a 2019 pota overturn spilled 80 tonnes of liquid steel and hurt 11 more, those reports added. Union representatives told Evrensel that three additional fatalities had taken place at Habas sites in the three weeks before the November 9 blast.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced that four public prosecutors had been assigned to investigate the blast, with experts dispatched to examine the scene for evidence, multiple outlets including The Independent and Armenpress reported. The probe will focus on the mechanical failure of the crane and adherence to safety protocols during the casting process, officials indicated. Habas described the accident as occurring amid scheduled maintenance on one of the furnaces in a statement released after the incident.
