The noise of the explosion in the district of Hendek was heard throughout central Sakarya, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) away from the scene, sending people into the streets in panic. Ambulances and firefighters were dispatched to the scene. There is no word yet on casualties.
Hendek Mayor Turgut Babaoğlu told reporters that there were about 150 workers inside. Sakarya Governor Çetin Oktay Kaldırım told Anadolu Agency (AA) that crews were unable to intervene in the incident due to ongoing explosions but they secured the perimeter of the factory. The governor said 10 people were transferred to hospitals, 10 others managed to escape the explosion uninjured.
Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and Minister of Family, Labor and Social Services Zehra Zümrüt Selçuk traveled to Sakarya to monitor the situation.
Turkish Red Crescent head urged residents living nearby explosion area to remain indoors, shut windows over possible chemical gas release. The same facility was hit by explosions in 2009, 2011 and 2014 that killed 3 workers.
In 2008, 20 people were killed in an explosion in a fireworks factory in Istanbul, west of Sakarya.
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