Explosion at firework factory: Death toll rises to 6, 1 person still missing

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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In the most recent statement about the explosion that took place in Büyük Coşkunlar Firework Factory in Hendek, Sakarya on July 3, Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca shared a brief message on Twitter yesterday (July 5) and has announced that six people who lost their lives in the blast have been identified while one person is still missing.

CLICK - Explosion at firework factory in Sakarya province

According to the statement of the Minister, 121 of 126 wounded people have so far been discharged from hospitals. Of the remaining 5 people still treated at hospitals, one person is in intensive care in Sakarya and one at the Burn Center of İstanbul Kartal City Hospital.

Hendek'teki patlamada hayatını kaybeden 6 kişinin kimlikleri belirlendi. Kayıp 1 kişiye henüz ulaşılamadı. Yaralanan 126 kişiden 121'i taburcu oldu. 5 kişinin tedavisi 1'i Sakarya'da yoğun bakımda, diğeri İstanbul Kartal Şehir Hastanesi Yanık Merkezi'nde olmak üzere devam ediyor.

— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) July 5, 2020

Statement by Sakarya Governor

Earlier yesterday, Sakarya Governor Oktay Kaldırım also made a statement and shared the latest figures about the explosion.

As reported by Anadolu Agency (AA), Kaldırım said that the findings obtained from the site of incident were sent to the Forensic Medicine Institution. The examinations conducted there have shown that the bodies of two more citizens have been identified, bringing the death toll to six.

In his statement, Governor Kaldırım also noted that six people in total lost their lives in the incident and one missing person could not yet been found. The search and rescue operations for the missing person still continue at the site of explosion, Kaldırım added further. 

"As of now, the number or wounded treated at hospitals has dropped to five. One of them is in burn injury treatment in another city. Four of them are treated in our province, one of them is still in serious condition."

4 people taken into custody about the blast

As reported by the AA and state channel TRT, four people in total have been taken into custody about the explosion so far.

As part of an investigation launched into the incident by the Sakarya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, warrants were issued to detain one manager and two workmasters. Detained by gendarmerie officers, three suspects have been taken to the Hendek District Gendarmerie Command.

The day after, one more person, an occupational safety specialist, has also been detained as part of the investigation.

'I had been warning for four days'

On the other side, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Group Deputy Chair Engin Özkoç, Vice Chair Tuncay Özkan, Parliamentary Deputy Speaker Haydar Akar and High Disciplinary Board Chair Uğur Bayraktutan visited the wounded workers in hospital.

Nuray Cihangir, a worker wounded in the blast, said, "The explosion did not occur during production, it took place in the warehouse at the back. It must be due to the goods stored in warehouses. Because they were warming up. There is no fault on the part of workers for now."

Underlining that their goods had been warming up and she had made warnings about it, Cihangir also said, "Our goods were warming up, I put them outside four four days. I was telling the ones inside. A gelatine is normally wrapped around the goods, this gelatine caused them to warm up.

"I was telling this for four days, I was warning the workers working next to me. There are no fatalities in my department. I was warning all departments, I was telling them, 'Don't put a cardboard or anything in front of the door so that we can escape any minute.' I must hand it to the boss, he was also warning us to be careful, to put them outside, to not bring too many inside."

'Goods were warming up'

Kesiban Yolcu, another wounded worker, has also mentioned the warming up of goods: "They apparently placed the goods outside because they were warming up. They say that those goods exploded, but if they were going to explode, they would do it yesterday.

"I guess it happened in production department. There was warming-up. It was not supposed to happen, we warned, but they did not listen. They pressured us a lot into working. Goods should supposedly be ready on time."

(AÖ/RT/SD)