Grieving relatives faced an agonising wait for the identification of their dead on Tuesday after a huge blast at a Turkish steel plant killed 18 people, as labour groups called a string of protests over safety issues.
Onlookers said Monday's massive explosion felt like "an earthquake" when it ripped through the HABAS steel factory in Aliaga, a district known for shipbreaking and heavy industry about 35km (23 miles) from the western port city of Izmir.
The deadly blast at one of Turkey's top steel producers also left another dozen people injured, one of whom was in a critical condition.
Speaking to reporters at the plant, deputy Justice Minister Can Tuncay said forensic investigators found the victims had died from "burns so severe they caused carbonisation".
Rescuers later found the body of another worker at the plant, raising the toll to 18 dead, IHA news agency reported.
Investigators probing the explosion on Tuesday detained HABAS chairman Mehmet Rustu Basaran in Istanbul, media reports said, just hours after Tuncay said he was one of 11 people slated for arrest, alongside senior plant officials.
Another six were detained on Monday.
Outside the forensic institute in Aliaga, bereaved family members said they had waited all night for confirmation that their loved ones had been identified so they could be laid to rest.
