Seventeen workers died and 14 were injured in an explosion at HABAŞ’s steelworks in Aliağa, near İzmir, on 9 November 2026, according to Turkish news agency DHA. One of the injured is in serious condition. Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu announced that the death toll had risen to 17 after a critically injured worker died. He also said that search and rescue operations had been completed.
The company said the accident happened during planned maintenance on one of its electric arc furnaces. That clarification changes the initial account: the governor’s office had first described a crane falling into a furnace during steel casting, while Governor Süleyman Elban later said the affected line was not producing steel at the time.
The later account identifies maintenance work
Speaking at the site, Elban put the accident at about 11:46 local time, during a furnace-vessel replacement. He said an overhead crane fell and that falling material struck a natural-gas line, triggering an explosion. HABAŞ’s statement, reported by Anadolu Agency, separately confirms planned maintenance at an electric arc furnace, without establishing the cause of the lifting failure.
Labour and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan later said preliminary findings indicated that falling material had ruptured natural-gas and oxygen pipes during maintenance. The circumstances of the accident and any negligence remain under investigation.
Menemen prosecutors opened a judicial investigation, with four prosecutors assigned to the case. The Interior Ministry appointed two chief inspectors, while the Labour and Social Security Ministry also assigned inspectors to examine workplace safety and any negligence.
According to the company’s website, HABAŞ’s Aliağa steelworks began production in 1987 and has an annual steelmaking capacity of 4.5 million tonnes.
