ISTANBUL — An explosion ripped through a steel plant in western Turkey on Monday, killing 16 people and injuring 13, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, announcing investigations into the tragedy.

 

Eight workers were trapped at the HABAS steel factory about 60 kilometres north of the port city of Izmir where the blast struck around midday (0900 GMT), said Izmir governor Suleyman Elban.

 

Footage posted online showed a huge cloud of thick smoke pouring into the sky as flames appeared to engulf a tall structure within the HABAS Demir Celik plant in Aliaga.

 

"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 on television.

 

He said two of the injured were in serious condition.

 

HABAS is a privately owned group and one of Turkey's top steel producers.

 

According to Izmir's governor, the blast was caused by an overhead crane that collapsed into a large industrial furnace used during the liquid steel casting process.

 

"While a boiler replacement operation was being carried out at the HABAS iron and steel factory, the overhead crane fell and landed in the arc furnace, causing an explosion in the steel mill behind it," Elban told reporters, referring to a large electric-powered steelmaking furnace.

 

An eyewitness, Deniz Ulker, said 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," Ulker told Anadolu news agency.

 

"It was like a bomb going off," said Turan Ilbay, who works as a truck driver at the factory and also spoke to Anadolu.

 

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.