Blast at HABAS steel plant in Izmir kills 17 workers

An explosion at the HABAS steel plant in the Aliaga district of Izmir, Turkey, killed 17 workers and injured 13 others on Monday afternoon local time. Izmir Governor Suleyman Elban said the incident occurred at about 11:46 during a furnace changeover, when a crane collapsed, dropping material into an electric arc furnace, damaging a natural gas pipe and triggering the blast. Early reports put the death toll at 16, but Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu later updated the count after one critically ill patient died. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said judicial and administrative investigations had been opened. Worker groups and the Izmir branch of the Turkish Labor Party also pointed to the plant's safety record, saying it was the third fatal incident in the past three weeks.