News / Turkey

Four dead, 2 wounded in Turkish oil refinery explosion

Wednesday, 11 October 2017 2:47 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 11 October 2017 3:25 PM ]

This picture shows the entrance to the Tüpraş Aliağa oil refinery in Izmir, western Turkey, on October 11, 2017. (Photos by CNN Turk)

Four people have lost their lives and two others sustained injuries when a powerful explosion ripped through an oil refinery in Turkey’s western province of Izmir.

Bayram Yilmaz, the governor for the province's Aliağa district, said the blast at the Tüpraş Aliağa oil refinery was an “industrial accident,” which took place due to the build-up of gas during the maintenance of a naphtha tank that had not been used for a long time.

Yilmaz added that there was no fire after the explosion and production had resumed at the refinery.

The Tüpraş Aliağa refinery is Turkey’s second-largest in terms of its annual processing capacity of 11 million tons.

Security personnel cordon off the site of an explosion at the Tüpraş Aliağa oil refinery in Izmir, Turkey, on October 11, 2017.

The facility is located in a heavily industrialized area right next to a petrochemical plant, another oil refinery and several other oil and gas industry facilities.

Tüpraş is owned by Turkey's largest industrial conglomerate, Koç Holding.

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