An explosion and fire at a factory in western Turkey left 17 workers dead and 12 injured, Turkish authorities said.

"Sixteen people lost their lives in the explosion, while 13 others are receiving medical treatment, two of whom are in critical condition," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday evening after a Cabinet meeting.

Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu later revised the death toll to 17 after one of the critically injured workers died from his injuries.

The blast took place at the HABAS steel plant in Aliaga, in the port city of Izmir. Officials like the city's governor Suleyman Elban had given reporters lower casualty figures earlier in the day as search and rescue efforts sought to locate people potenitally trapped under rubble. 

The plant's production line was in the middle of a shift change rather than active production, according to the governor. Only some 200 workers were present instead of the expected 300.

An earlier statement from the governor's office said that the blast happened around noon (09:00 GMT) when an overhead crane toppled into a furnace during the casting of liquid steel. It also said that the authorities were investigating the incident. 

Izmir mayor fears death toll could rise

Mayor Cemil Tugay wrote on X that the initial fire following the blast had been extinguished, but the exact number of dead and injured would become clear only after the debris had been cleared.

Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci, announced that those injured in the incident were taken to hospital and their condition was being closely monitored.

Minister of Justice Akın Gürlek said that four public prosecutors had been assigned to the case.

'I thought it was an earthquake'

Eyewitness Nuri Ali Ulker described the blast as "very intense."

"The ground shook," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Another witness, Deniz Ulker, told the agency that the explosion "felt like the earth's crust was shifting beneath us. I thought it was an earthquake."

The HABAS plant was established in 1987 and can produce 4.5 million tons of steel annually, according to the company's website.

Leftist opposition lashes out at the government

Turkey's leftist opposition party TIP lashed out at the government saying that the blast once again laid bare how occupational health and safety were completely disregarded in the country. 

The described the incident as "workplace homicide."

In an online post, TIP leader Erkan Bas said that "[t]he regime of bosses has declared war on the workers." 

Union leader Basaran Aksu said that "the massacre calls for the resignation of the minister of labor."

He alleged that "workers' blood" was being shed for profit. 

According to the Health and Safety Labor Watch, an independent NGO in Turkey, there were 226 workplace deaths reported across the country in September this year. For orientation, that is around two-thirds of the total that Germany — with a very similar total population — recorded in an entire year in 2025.