ISTANBUL, November 9. /TASS/. The death toll from an explosion at a metallurgical plant in Turkey's Izmir Province has risen to 16, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an address to the nation following a cabinet meeting he chaired in Ankara.

"Sixteen people were killed and 13 injured, two of them seriously, in the explosion at a metallurgical plant in the Aliaga district of Izmir Province," Erdogan said in an address broadcast by TRT Haber.

He stated an investigation into the incident is underway. "The causes and circumstances of this tragic incident, which has deeply saddened our country, will be established, and those at fault and those responsible will be identified," the Turkish leader pledged.

Local media reported that police have detained five people as part of the investigation into the explosion.

The incident occurred on Monday at around noon local time (9 a.m. GMT), after molten metal spilled when an overhead crane broke loose and fell into an electric arc furnace in one of the plant's workshops. The building almost completely collapsed, and plumes of gray-black smoke rising above the plant could be seen several kilometers away. The incident did not affect operations at other plants in the same industrial zone.