Turkey Fireworks: Deadly Factory Blasts Catch Workers


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Media captionThe video shows a large column of smoke and fireworks after the incident at a factory in Sakarya province.

Almost 200 workers have been caught in a series of explosions at a fireworks factory in northwest Turkey that has left at least two dead.

Local Governor Cetin Oktay Kaldirim said many were trapped by the blasts and that emergency services were unable to reach the building.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave details of the deaths and said 74 other people had been injured.

The explosions at Hendek were heard dozens of kilometers away.

A cloud of dark smoke rose above the factory, and the government disaster agency described the explosions as an industrial accident.

Erdogan said 189 people had been working at the site at the time of the explosions.

Local mayor Turgut Babaoglu said many of them had managed to escape the explosions, which started around 11:15 (08:15 GMT).

Babaoglu said dozens of firefighters and rescuers had been dispatched to the scene.