with grieving families waiting Tuesday to receive their loved ones' bodies for burial. Onlookers said Monday's blast felt like "an earthquake" when it ripped through the HABAS steel factory in Aliaga, a district 60 kilometers north of Izmir known for shipbreaking and heavy industry. Police detained six people in connection with the incident, with Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar warning "the number could rise". The explosion also left around a dozen people injured, at least one in critical condition.

Outside the forensic institute in Aliaga, bereaved family members told AFP they had waited all night for confirmation that their loved ones had been identified. Turgut Dilek, whose nephew Ozcan Efe was among the dead, said bodies were in a condition making visual identification impossible, so the process is being carried out through DNA analysis. Meanwhile, there was no word on the fate of a 40-year-old man who set himself alight outside the factory on Monday evening and was taken to hospital with severe injuries. He had worked for years as a truck driver at the plant. Workers' groups have accused HABAS of a chequered safety record, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed investigators would get to the bottom of what happened. Turkey's pro-Kurdish DEM party sent a delegation to visit the families and injured, led by co-chair Tulay Hatimogullari, saying "not a single party must go unpunished". Jailed Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan's chief political rival, demanded accountability, writing on X that "workplace deaths are not fate" and that anyone negligent must be held responsible. Izmir governor Suleyman Elban said the explosion happened during "a boiler replacement operation". Worker Yasin Cetiner told AFP the crane had dropped a huge container of molten steel after its rope broke, causing about 120 tons of liquid steel to fall onto the furnace and triggering a hydrogen explosion upon contact with water beneath. HABAS declined to respond to questions. Workers' groups called a protest in Aliaga on Tuesday. (Bssnews)