Wednesday, 25th December 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Asia  

11 killed in blast at Turkey explosives plant

By AFP
24 December 2024   |   4:54 pm
A powerful blast ripped through an explosives plant in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, killing 11 people and injuring seven others,
This handout image released by the Demiroren News Agency (DHA) on December 24, 2024, shows the moment of an explosion in Balikesir. – A powerful blast on December 24, 2024, ripped through an explosives plant in northwest Turkey killing 13 people and injuring four others, officials said. Footage showed shards of glass and metal scattered outside the plant, where ambulances stood by. The plant, located in the north of Balikesir, makes munitions and explosives and flares for the domestic and international markets. (Photo by DHA (Demiroren News Agency) / AFP)

A powerful blast ripped through an explosives plant in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, killing 11 people and injuring seven others, officials said, downgrading their original toll.

Footage showed shards of glass and metal scattered outside the plant north of the city of Balikesir, where ambulances stood by.

“There are unfortunately 11 deaths… eight women and three men. And we have seven injured,” Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said at the scene.

Two of the seven injured were “under observation” in hospital, he added.

The authorities previously put the death toll at 12, with five injured.

According to the governor of Balikesir province, Ismail Ustaoglu, the blast happened shortly before 8:30 am (0530 GMT) because of a “technical malfunction” on a production line at the factory, which produces munitions and explosives for civilian use.

Six employees of the same factory were injured in a previous explosion in 2014, according to Turkish media.

Images broadcast by Turkish television channels showed part of the factory completely destroyed, as well as metal panels and shattered glass on the ground.

One witness on the 24-hour news channel NTV described the scene as a “battlefield”.

A fire that broke out following the explosion was extinguished by firefighters, and the factory was quickly evacuated.

An investigation has been opened and the theory of sabotage has already been ruled out, according to the authorities.

The factory is located about a kilometre from the nearest village, according to satellite images seen by AFP.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences and as well as the interior minister, he also sent defence and labour ministers to the scene.

He has promised a full investigation into the cause of the blast.

In June 2023, five people died in a blast at an explosives factory in Ankara province, near the Turkish capital.

Three years earlier, in July 2020, seven people were killed and nearly 130 injured in an explosion at a fireworks factory in the northwestern province of Sakarya.

In 2009 and 2014, two explosions had already occurred at the same factory in Balikesir, killing two people and injuring around 40 others, according to Turkish media.

In this article

0 Comments