ISTANBUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th August, 2023) The explosion near the Turkish major commercial port of Derince in the Kocaeli province has claimed its first fatality after a person hospitalized after the blast passed away, Tahir Buyukakin, the mayor of Kocaeli metropolitan municipality, said on Wednesday.
"I express my condolences to the family of deceased Ekrem Kalkan who was hospitalized after the explosion at the Turkish Grain board elevators," Buyukakın wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Meanwhile, Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ibrahim Yumakli said that the explosion will not threaten the country's food security.
"There are many speculations by those who are not experts in this area. Fifteen thousand tonnes of food have been damaged (by the explosion). In Turkey, where 22 million tonnes of food are produced, claims that this will create a threat to our (food) security come from ignorance and lack of knowledge about the issue," the minister told reporters.
A blast hit the port city in western Turkey on Monday, damaging elevators at the moment of loading a vessel with grain and injuring at least 12 people. A source in Turkey's Coast Guard told Sputnik that the explosion did not damage any ships in the port.
