Death toll from explosion at HABAŞ metallurgical plant in Turkey rises to 16

Explosion at the HABAŞ plant in Aliağa

On November 9, 2026, at around 11:30 local time, a powerful explosion rocked the HABAŞ metallurgical plant in the city of Aliağa in Turkey's İzmir province, in the Çakmaklı industrial zone. A fire broke out at the plant after the blast, and thick smoke rose over the site. Fire crews, ambulance teams, rescue units and specialists from Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) were dispatched to the scene. The first reports of casualties came almost immediately: the NTV television channel reported dead and injured without specifying their number, while Life.ru citing NTV, wrote that the exact number of those affected had not yet been established.

Suspected cause: a fallen crane

According to the provincial administration of İzmir, cited by Life.ru, the incident occurred during the pouring of liquid steel: an overhead crane snapped and fell into an electric arc furnace — it is assumed that this is what caused the explosion and the subsequent fire. At the same time, initial reports about the location of the blast differed: some Turkish media pointed to the carbon dioxide filling area, others to the plant's zinc shop. The official cause of the accident has not been established; law enforcement agencies are investigating the circumstances.

The death toll rose throughout the day

Casualty figures were revised upward several times during November 9. Turkey's Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu initially reported one dead and 15 injured, but the provincial administration clarified: three people had died, 14 were injured, three were in serious condition, and the fate of ten people remained unknown. Later, regional authorities told the Star newspaperthat the death toll had risen to six: one of the critically injured died in hospital, and rescuers recovered two more from under the rubble with no signs of life. By midday, İzmir Governor Suleyman Elban announced ten dead and 15 hospitalized, four of them in serious condition; according to him, four more people remained under the rubble. In the evening, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in an address to the nation reported 16 dead and 13 injured, two of them in serious condition.

What is known and what remains unclear

Turkey's Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi confirmed that a fire broke out at the plant after the explosion and said the injured had been taken to hospitals, with emergency services working on site in coordination with one another. There was no official version of the cause of the explosion as of the latest publications: the report of a crane falling into the furnace is presented as an assumption by the provincial administration, and the initial indications of different areas of the plant contradicted each other. The final figures for the dead and injured also differ between publications: the governor spoke of 15 injured, Erdoğan of 13. This is a separate accident, unrelated to the methane explosion at the coal mine in Zonguldak province on October 23, in which three workers died and five were injured.