The owner of a cosmetics warehouse in the Dilovası district of Turkey’s Kocaeli province was arrested when he allegedly tried to flee after a terrible fire at the weekend that killed six women, two of them minors, and injured seven, one of them critically. The fire, which broke out in the early hours of 8 November in the Mimar Sinan neighbourhood in a facility that also produced perfumes, mobilised numerous firefighting teams who managed to bring the blaze under control after an intense operation.
According to the Turkish authorities, the head of the factory, identified by the initials K.O., was captured by the police as he tried to escape, while his son is still at large. Three suspects were initially arrested, but the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in Gebze subsequently issued arrest warrants for eight more people as part of the ongoing investigation, TRT Haber reported.
As the investigation into the fire continues, new details are beginning to emerge. According to some sources, the factory lacked safety measures, and its location next to the building of İŞKUR – Turkey’s state employment agency – has attracted particular attention; in this regard, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç announced that almost all the managers of that İŞKUR branch – including seven officials from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security – have been suspended pending clarification of the facts and why they failed to take action in response to problems at a workplace located right next door.
The fire, which started at around 9:00 a.m., engulfed two floors of the building used as a warehouse and production centre. Several witnesses reported hearing an explosion before the flames spread rapidly. Among the fatalities in the tragedy were two girls aged 16 and 17, as confirmed by the mayor of Kocaeli, Tahir Büyükakın. Their employment status is being investigated to determine whether child labour was present at the plant.
The justice minister also reported that a committee of experts – comprising a mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, a chemist and an occupational safety specialist – continues to work to determine the origin of the fire and possible responsibilities. Investigations also point to the fact that only the ground floor of the two-storey building was licensed. The İHA agency also reported that one of the women killed in the fire, Şengül Yılmaz, a mother of three, had been working in the warehouse without insurance for three years.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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