ISTANBUL: A powerful blast ripped through an explosives plant in northwestern Turkiye on Tuesday, killing 11 people and injuring seven others, officials said, downgrading their original toll.

Footage showed shards of glass and metal scattered outside the plant north of the city of Balikesir, where ambulances stood by.

“There are unfortunately 11 deaths… eight women and three men. And we have seven inju­red,” Turkiye’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said at the scene.

Two of the seven injured were “under observation” in hospital, he added.

The authorities previously put the death toll at 12, with five injured.

According to the governor of Balikesir province, Ismail Ustaoglu, the blast happened shortly before 8:30am (0530 GMT) because of a “technical malfunction” on a production line at the factory, which produces munitions and explosives for civilian use.

Six employees of the same factory were injured in a previous explosion in 2014, according to Turkish media.

Images broadcast by Turkish television channels showed part of the factory completely destroyed, as well as metal panels and shattered glass on the ground.

One witness on the 24-hour news channel NTV described the scene as a “battlefield”.

A fire that broke out following the explosion was extinguished by firefighters, and the factory was quickly evacuated. An investigation has been opened and the theory of sabotage has already been ruled out, according to the authorities.

The factory is located about a kilometre from the nearest village, according to satellite images seen by AFP.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences and as well as the interior minister, he also sent defence and labour ministers to the scene.

He has promised a full investigation into the cause of the blast.

In June 2023, five people died in a blast at an explosives factory in Ankara province, near the Turkish capital.

Three years earlier, in July 2020, seven people were killed and nearly 130 injured in an explosion at a fireworks factory in the northwestern province of Sakarya.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2024