The death toll balance from the explosion recorded on Monday at a metallurgical plant located in the Turkish city of Aliaga, in the province of Izmir, in the west of the country, has risen to 18, according to information released this Tuesday by the Turkish Public Prosecutor's Office.
While the investigation into what happened continues, which has also left 14 injured to date, the security forces have arrested Mehmet Tustu Basaran, chairman of the Board of Directors of the plant of HABAS, who remains in custody in Kartal, a district of Istanbul Province.
The detainee has been transferred for the relevant procedures. Once those procedures are concluded, Basaran will be handed over to the Izmir Police Department teams responsible for the investigation, as the newspaper "Cumhuriyet" has reported.
The detonation occurred on Monday around midday, during a series of steel smelting operations at the HABAS plant, where a fire broke out that affected a large part of the facilities. All the fatalities were employees of the industrial complex.
The Menemen Public Prosecutor's Office has opened proceedings into the incident and four magistrates have been appointed to handle the case, according to what Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on his social networks.