ANKARA, February 7. /TASS/. Hundreds of containers are still burning in the Turkish port of Iskenderun, an employee of a technology college located in close proximity to the port area told a TASS correspondent on Tuesday.
"Yes, everything is still on fire. There are huge clouds of black smoke rising into the sky. Everything in this port is on fire in general. The fire has spread everywhere," she said.
The fact that the fire cannot be put out and is spreading was also confirmed to TASS by a logistics company that provides services at the port of Iskenderun and is located on its territory. "The fire continues. It is very large. Containers are burning. I don't know how many have burned and what will happen next. But I can tell you that the damage is very big," an employee of the company said. According to him, it is not possible to estimate the possible damage, but "hundreds of containers are burning" and the losses will definitely be great.
Iskenderun is a major Turkish port in the Eastern Mediterranean. It receives dry cargo ships, oil tankers and container ships. It is designed to handle 1 million TEUs (the equivalent of a 20-foot container) at a time. Judging by the images broadcast by local TV channels, at least 1,500 containers are in the fire zone. At least as many are unaffected by the fire and are being stored in a nearby storage area.
The port serves ships from Maersk Line, Sealand, Arkas Line, CMA CGM, Hapag Lloyd, Cosco Shipping, Evergreen, Yang Ming and other major carriers. It receives both transit cargoes, which are then transported to other ports around the world, and direct shipments for Turkey and for countries in the region, delivered to the addressee by land transport.
Operation of the entire port was suspended after the earthquakes in the Kahramanmaras province. As a result of the disaster, 3,432 people died and and over 20,000 people were injured in Turkey. More than 8,000 people were rescued from under the rubble. About 6,000 buildings were destroyed without the possibility of reconstruction.