Sakarya fireworks blast: Amount of stored explosives was above legal limits, experts find
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The second expert report on the fireworks factory explosion in Hendek, Sakarya that claimed seven lives in last July has been completed.
The Sakarya 1st Heavy Penal Court had requested a second report because the faults of the defendants and other responsible people could not be determined in the first one.
A seven-member team of experts comprising mechanical, chemical, construction, electrical-electronics and computer engineers, all of whom are class A occupational safety specialists, have reexamined the explosion.
The 183-page report says the amount of explosives stored in warehouses and marble production areas was above the legal limits.
Based on workers' statements, the report also notes that the amount of materials kept in production areas exceeded the daily production amount. Before the explosion, there were 41 tons of explosives in the Büyük Coşkunlar Fireworks Factory's warehouses.
No records were kept as to the type and amount of explosive materials coming to the laboratories every day, as well as how many workers worked there, the report has found.
It is the duty of the employer to ensure safe working conditions and the health and safety of the workers, says the report.
The experts have also found that there was no temperature monitoring in the factory and its emergency gathering are according to its "emergency action plan" was in fact the yard of another factory in Sakarya.
The reports that should be kept about occupational health and safety were not regularly kept and there were workers who hadn't received the required trainings, the experts have further noted.
Owners are 'primary negligent'
The report says there was no detailed risk assessment about the factory's structures, especially the marble laboratories, and the measures that should be taken were not determined.
The experts have concluded that the shareholders and executives of the factory, Yaşar Coşkun and Ali Rıza Coşkun, are the primary negligent party because of not having completed the necessary organization to ensure occupational safety.
Yaşar Coşkun has been remanded in custody while Ali Rıza Coşkun is free.
What happened?An explosion occurred at a firework factory in the district of Hendek in Turkey's western province of Sakarya at around 11.15 a.m. on July 3. The blast was reportedly so powerful that it was heard from several parts of Düzce despite the factory being located 50 kilometers to the city center. The explosion that took place at Büyük Coşkunlar Firework Factory claimed the lives of seven people and injured 126 others. Almost a week later, on July 9, an explosion claimed the lives of three soldiers and injured 12 others, including a truck driver, while they were carrying the fireworks waste from the factory. Addressing the reporters in Sakarya, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu said that the teams preferred to ensure the explosion of the fireworks waste in another place because there was a forest near the scene of the incident. He announced that "the cause of the explosion would be understood after the ensuing investigation into the incident was concluded." |
(HA/VK)