Death toll in Aliağa steel plant blast in Türkiye rises to 16, Erdoğan says

The death toll from Monday's explosion and fire at the HABAŞ steel plant in Aliağa, near İzmir, has risen to at least 16 people killed and 13 injured, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Daily Sabah reported. The figure is higher than the 6 dead officials had given earlier in the day.

Erdoğan said judicial and administrative investigations had been launched to determine the cause of the blast in the Aliağa district and to identify anyone responsible for negligence.

The toll rose through the day. Early reports from the İzmir provincial administration put it at 3 dead and 14 injured; the governor's office later raised this to 6 dead, including 1 who died in hospital and 2 found dead under rubble, and 13 injured. Separately, Bianet, Kurier and Tages-Anzeiger reported at least 10 dead, before Erdoğan's own statement put the toll at 16.

Initial findings point to an accident during steel casting, the governor's office said: an overhead crane broke loose from the roof and fell into an electric arc furnace, triggering the blast. Turkish authorities described this as a preliminary assessment, with the exact cause still under investigation. Four public prosecutors have been assigned to the case, Philenews reported.

Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi confirmed the explosion and the fire that followed, saying emergency units were coordinating a search, rescue and firefighting operation at the scene. The injured were taken to hospitals in the area for treatment.

Eyewitnesses described a powerful explosion, a thick cloud of black smoke and flames rising above the plant, according to Daily Sabah and Blick. "It was as if the ground beneath us had shifted," witness Deniz Ülker told Anadolu Agency.