Newsroom
A propane tank explosion at a restaurant in Izmir, Turkey, has claimed the lives of at least five people and injured 63 others. According to a report on Metro UK, the explosion occurred in the Ayrancılar neighborhood, causing significant damage to the restaurant, nearby vehicles, and surrounding houses.
Footage from street CCTV cameras captured the moment the front of the building was blown to pieces. Debris was strewn across the street, and window frames and doors were ripped apart by the force of the blast.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya paid tribute to the victims in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “An explosion occurred in a restaurant in the Fevzi Çakmak neighborhood in Torbalı, Izmir, which, according to initial findings, was thought to be caused by an industrial cylinder,” he wrote.
Yerlikaya also detailed the emergency response: “To the incident area; two vehicles and nine personnel from Izmir Provincial AFAD, eight ambulances, two UMKE teams and 36 personnel from the Provincial Health Directorate were dispatched.”
Izmir Governor Suleyman Elban visited the injured at the hospital, announcing that 40 of them had already been released. Despite immediate medical attention, one of the hospitalized victims succumbed to their injuries.
The identities of those killed in the explosion have not yet been confirmed. Police have cordoned off the area around the restaurant as a precautionary measure and have detained one suspect who may have played a part in the explosion. The man had reportedly replaced the propane tank with a new one on Saturday.
The incident has left the local community in shock as authorities continue to investigate the cause of the deadly explosion.
[Information sourced from Metro UK]
