One person killed due to fuel tanker explosion in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

DHA Photo

One person was killed and two others were wounded due to the explosion of a fuel tanker in Istanbul’s Büyükçekmece district on Dec. 2, Doğan News Agency has reported.

The explosion occurred during repair work on the fuel tanker at a garage in the Tecimen industrial estate on İçel Street in Büyükçekmece.

One repairman, identified as Ali al-Zeri, was killed due to the explosion, while the two injured individuals, identified as İbrahim al-Zeri and Kamil Gökçe, were taken to the nearby Beylikdüzü State Hospital. 

A number of ambulances and firefighters arrived in the area following the blast.

Police and fire crews started to examine the area after encircling it with security strips, with police officers not allowing citizens to enter the area.

One of the eyewitnesses, Tufan Ulutaş, said the blast was “like an earthquake.”

“The explosion was terrifying. It like an earthquake. There were no safety precautions to protect against the incident. You are just welding on it and it is full of gas. So the tanker exploded within seconds,” Ulutaş added.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Ali Şeker arrived at the scene and was informed about the incident, describing it as “murder” and adding that the killed worker was of Syrian origin.

“Unfortunately we have witnessed another work murder, killing a Syrian worker. This garage is a place where old tankers are repaired and maybe this worker did not have any technical information about this stuff. Maybe he cannot even speak Turkish fluently,” Şeker said.