Seven people detained after explosion in oil refinery in western Turkey

İZMİR

A total of seven people were detained on Oct. 12 after a deadly explosion at a facility of Turkey’s sole oil refining company TÜPRAŞ in the Aegean province of İzmir.

The previous day, four people were killed in a storage tank explosion at the TÜPRAŞ facility.

İzmir’s Aliağa Chief Prosecution Office has opened an investigation into the incident, detaining two chief engineers, one engineer, one security specialist, one supervisor, one site manager, and one project executive from co-packer Beka.

Meanwhile, two injured workers are still being treated in the Menemen State Hospital.

Following the explosion, Aliağa District Governor Bayram Yılmaz described the incident as “unfortunate” and said such accidents “may occur from time to time.”

“This is an instant explosion. There is no other fire, leak or situation that would affect TÜPRAŞ’s general condition or activities,” Yılmaz said.

The blast occurred during work on a naphtha gas tank that had been out of use for a long time, he added, confirming that the explosion was an accident caused by gas pressure in a boiler.

The İzmir Governor’s Office also released a written statement regarding the explosion, saying the fire was brought under control, while the fire department is still been trying to completely extinguish the fire.

“A judicial and administrative investigation has been launched regarding the accident,” the statement said.

TÜPRAŞ is Turkey’s largest industrial enterprise, with 28.1 million tons of crude processing capacity. It has four refineries operating in four different cities across the country.