Seventeen workers were killed and more than a dozen others injured on Monday when an explosion ripped through an iron and steel plant near the Turkish port city of Izmir.
All of the dead and wounded were employees of the Habas Demir Celik plant in Aliaga, about 60 kilometers north of Izmir, in western Turkiye.
Local authorities said the blast occurred around midday when a ceiling crane collapsed into a furnace used during liquid steel casting, triggering an explosion and fire after damaging a natural gas line, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.
Footage from the scene showed a fierce blaze inside the facility and a towering column of smoke rising into the sky.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting on Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed the deaths and said investigations were underway while search and rescue continued.
"The circumstances surrounding this tragic incident ... how and why it happened, whether there was any negligence and who bears responsibility, will be established," he said.
Izmir's provincial governor, Suleyman Elban, told reporters that some workers were believed to remain trapped beneath rubble, while Izmir Mayor Cemil Tugay said the final casualty toll would not be known until rescue teams have finished searching the wreckage.
Trade unions have raised concerns about the facility's safety record over many years, reported the BBC. Turkiye has long struggled with high rates of workplace accidents, according to the Turkish Health and Safety Labor Watch, a civil society watchdog.
Deniz Ulker, an eyewitness, was quoted by news outlets as saying the explosion shook the ground with such force that it felt like an "earthquake".
"When I looked at the factory across the street, thick black smoke was coming out. A fire broke out where the chimney was," he said.
The company operating the factory said the incident occurred during scheduled maintenance on one of the plant's electric arc furnaces.
Police have detained six people in connection with the incident, with Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar warning "the number could rise".
Aliaga is a major port district within Izmir Province and one of Turkiye's principal shipbreaking hubs.
The explosion occurred as world leaders gathered in Antalya, on Turkiye's southern coast, for the opening of the United Nations climate change conference.
