Six held over deadly Turkiye steel blast that killed 17

Six individuals were arrested overnight following a catastrophic explosion at a steel plant located near the western Turkish city of Izmir, which resulted in the loss of 17 lives, according to the most recent information available. The incident sent shockwaves through the surrounding community, as families awaited the return of their deceased loved ones for burial.

Onlookers described the force of the blast as resembling an "earthquake," claiming it shook the HABAS steel factory in Aliaga, a district situated 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Izmir and renowned for its shipbreaking and heavy industry operations.

Authorities have currently apprehended six people in connection with the incident, though Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar hinted at the possibility of additional arrests. The blast not only claimed the lives of 17 workers but also injured around a dozen others, with at least one victim in a critical condition. Outside the forensic institute in Aliaga, bereaved family members expressed their frustration, stating they had been waiting all night for confirmation of their loved ones' identities in order to lay them to rest.

Turgut Dilek, whose nephew Ozcan Efe was among the deceased, recounted the family's long wait for DNA results, noting the poor condition of the bodies, which precluded visual identification.

Meanwhile, a 40-year-old man who set himself on fire outside the factory on Monday evening sustained severe injuries and was admitted to the hospital. He had been employed at the factory as a truck driver for several years, though conflicting reports indicated that his brother had also died in the blast. Workers' groups have long criticized HABAS for a history of safety lapses, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged on Monday that investigators would thoroughly investigate the incident.

The Democratic Election Movement (DEM) party, a pro-Kurdish entity, dispatched a delegation to Aliaga on Tuesday to offer support to the families and injured personnel, while opposition leader Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan's political adversary, called for accountability, emphasizing that workplace fatalities should not be tolerated. The Izmir governor, Suleyman Elban, confirmed that the explosion occurred during a boiler replacement operation, though HABAS declined to comment on the matter when contacted by AFP.

Workers' groups have scheduled a protest in Aliaga for Tuesday, expressing their outrage over the exploitation of workers and the deaths of dozens of comrades due to employers' greed.