Arab News | At least nine detained protesting at blast-hit Turkiye steel plant

Aliaga, Turkiye: Turkiye’s security forces on Friday detained at least nine people protesting a ban on bringing mobile phones into a steel plant that was hit by a deadly explosion this week, a workers’ collective said.

Workers arriving for their morning shift at the HABAS steel factory were told to leave their mobile phones at a security checkpoint, prompting them to gather at the facility’s entrance in protest, according to Oktay Turk, spokesman for the Aegean Workers’ Collective.

“At least nine people were detained,” Turk told AFP, adding that he was among those taken into custody at the factory, located in Aliaga, a district known for shipbreaking and heavy industry near the western port city of Izmir.

The mobile phone ban was introduced by HABAS chairman Mehmet Rustu Basaran, who was placed under house arrest as part of an investigation into Monday’s explosion, Turk said.

A company notice said mobile phones would no longer be allowed inside.

The Collective alleged the move was aimed at preventing workers from sharing images from inside the plant.

An AFP photographer at the scene said tensions were high, with security forces blocking some roads leading to the factory and large numbers deployed around the site.

The explosion killed 19 people, according to Ali Ekber Tali of the Turkish Metal Workers’ Union.

The death toll includes “a missing person who was presumed dead,” Tali told AFP.

The accident occurred during a boiler replacement operation when an overhead crane collapsed, dropping a container holding 120 tons of molten steel onto an industrial furnace, officials and a factory employee said.

The explosion has fueled anger over what workers’ groups describe as a poor safety record at HABAS.

Of the 11 people detained as part of the investigation, a court this week ordered nine held in pre-trial detention and placed two under house arrest, including Basaran.

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