Aliaga (Turkey) (AFP) – Turkey's security forces on Friday detained at least nine people protesting a ban on bringing mobile phones into a steel plant hit by a deadly explosion this week, a workers' collective said.

Issued on: 13/11/2026 - 15:05Modified: 13/11/2026 - 15:47

Workers arriving for their morning shift at the HABAS steel factory were told to leave their mobile phones at a security checkpoint, said a spokesman for the Aegean Workers' Collective.

Instead, some of them gathered at the facility's entrance to protest.

"We want to live with dignity," the protesters shouted outside the factory, in Aliaga, a district known for shipbreaking and heavy industry near the western port city of Izmir.

The factory was rocked by a major explosion on Monday that killed 19 people -- including one missing person who is presumed dead, Ali Ekber Tali of the Turkish Metal Workers' Union told AFP.

The mobile phone ban at the plant was introduced by HABAS chairman Mehmet Rustu Basaran, who has been placed under house arrest as part of the investigation into the blast, said Oktay Turk of the Collective.

"At least nine people were detained" protesting the ban -- himself included, Turk told AFP.

The Collective alleged the phone ban 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 deployed around the factory and blocking some roads leading to the site.

-'Not an accident'-

Later in the day, some 200 people including workers from neighbouring factories in Aliaga gathered outside the plant, some unfurling banners.

"It was not an accident, it was a murder," read one. "We are in mourning" said another, showing photographs of the workers killed in the blast.

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

Forensic investigators found the victims had died from burns, some so severe that DNA tests had to be conducted to identify them.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed those responsible will be held to account.

This week, a parliamentary motion to launch a comprehensive investigation into the explosion was voted down by the ruling AKP party and its right-wing ally, the MHP.

The deadly blast has fuelled anger over what workers' groups describe as a poor safety record at HABAS.

Contacted by AFP on Monday, HABAS declined to respond.

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

© 2026 AFP

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