Large blast injures 12 near grain silos in Turkish port of Derince

Al Jazeera reported the information.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said on Monday that three of 12 people injured were in serious condition.

An explosion occurred approximately at 2:40pm near Turkish Grain Board silos, Seddar Yavuz, the governor of Kocaeli where the port is located, said on Monday.

"We were worried that there was an earthquake with a lot of noise, then we learned that there was an explosion. The incident occurred within a radius of 25 meters. The incident is serious, but localized. They empty the wheat into buckets and check whether there is anything under it or not. There are about 40 silos here, and 2 of them exploded," Derince Mayor Zeki Aygün was quoted by CNN Turk.

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The explosion at the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) grain storage facility in the port was allegedly caused by the interaction of chemicals.

“Initial evaluations show that an explosion occurred due to wheat dust compression during the transfer of wheat from a ship to the silo,” Yavuz said.

“We were told that it is technically possible that a blast could occur due to compression of wheat dust, but we are investigating every possible reason,” he added.

CNN Turk’s correspondent said on the air: "One of the wheat silos exploded. It is believed that it happened when the ship was buying wheat at that point. We said that it happened to a wheat silo, it remains uncertain whether the cause was related to routine maintenance or gas compression."

Police said they had launched an investigation into the incident

• President Erdogan called a government meeting to discuss the "grain deal" on August 7.