Explosion at Istanbul shipyard kills two workers, injures five
ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency
Two people were killed and five were injured in an explosion at a shipyard in Istanbul’s Tuzla district yesterday.The explosion occurred on a ship under construction at a shipyard belonging to the Ada Shipping Company. A gas build-up was cited as the cause of the blast.
Numerous ambulances, firefighters and police officers were dispatched to the scene. The five injured people were taken to a hospital. The identities of the dead were announced as Ali Sağdıç and Recep Özdağ.
Republican People’s Party Vice President Gürsel Tekin visited the scene of the incident and spoke to the press.
“The lack of work safety precautions at the Tuzla shipyard is an ongoing problem. The fact that these problems still exist is a major lapse of responsibility on the part of the state,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, the families of the killed and injured workers asked to speak with company officials, and were not permitted to do so, according to reports.
More than 140 workers have died in accidents at the Tuzla shipyard since the 1980s.
