Explosive factory blast kills 11 in Balıkesir

BALIKESIR

A powerful blast ripped through an explosives plant in the northwestern province of Balıkesir on Dec. 24 killing 11 people and injuring seven others, officials have announced.

The blast took place at 8:25 a.m. at a section of the plant that collapsed under the force of the explosion in Balıkesir’s Karesi district, governor İsmail Ustaoğlu said.

The plant makes munitions, explosives and flares for the domestic and international markets, Ustaoğlu said. The factory is located in a mountainous area, 20-25 kilometers away from the city center.

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

CNN Türk broadcast photographs showing a fireball and smoke rising from the factory building at the time of the blast, while subsequent video showed the mangled metal framework of the building destroyed in the blast.

Officials said the injured were not in a serious condition.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he was "deeply saddened by the death of 12 brothers," in a message on social platform X.

He said he was briefed by all relevant institutions soon after the blast and instructed that "the necessary investigation be initiated immediately in all aspects.”

There were no staff left inside the factory and the blaze was put out, they added. As a result of the explosion, composite fragments were scattered outside the factory, local media said.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the cause of the blast at the factory, which is located away from residential areas, was not immediately known.

"We are trying to find out what caused it," he said.

Local officials pointed to "technical reasons" without elaborating as experts were still investigating at the scene.

Authorities ruled out sabotage, with Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç writing on social media platform X that four public prosecutors have been assigned to investigate the cause of the explosion.

Witnesses told local media that part of the building was "like a battlefield.”

Security forces took measures in case of a second blast, with civilians and members of the press not allowed nearby.

In 2020, an explosion at a fireworks factory in Sakarya killed seven people and injured 127 others.

In 2023, a blast at a military explosives factory killed five people. That factory, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the capital Ankara, was part of the Defense Ministry.