OSTİM explosion leaves tragic stories behind

Necdet Ali Danışman, 28, who died in the explosion while working under tough conditions make ends meet, had started his job just two days before the blast. The mother of Dursun Kavak, who never married so he could support his parents, said: “I had four kids. Three died when they were young. The fourth we named Dursun [meaning ‘let him stay’], but he, too, did not stay.”

The explosion at OSTİM destroyed all the hopes of the relatives of the workers who died in the explosion. The workers were immediately taken to a local hospital after the explosion, and its garden was filled with family members. Each of the workers who died in the explosion had heartbreaking stories.

Just started to work

Twenty-eight-year-old Necdet Ali Danışman had just started to work two days before the explosion, for a very low wage. Welder Abdülkadir Kurt had been unemployed for some time before he found a job about three months ago at the factory where he perished. Kurt’s family hadn’t heard from him for a long time, but they learned about his death in the afternoon of Feb. 3.

Dursun Kavak, another worker who died in the explosion, had not married in order to financially support his parents. Kavak was late to work on the day of the explosion, which occurred shortly after he arrived at the factory. He bought a car several weeks ago and he had worked hard to buy it. But he wasn’t able to drive it to his heart’s content.

Satılmış Şimşek, 26, who died on the spot, had recently lost his 3-year-old son to cancer. Şimşek’s family was living in a shanty house in Macunköy in difficult circumstances, and they were hit for a second time by death.

Two kids are now fatherless

Welder Ali Yiğit, 30, had two kids who are now fatherless. His wife, Saniye Yiğit, said: “I had left for Çorum for the wedding ceremony of one of our relatives. He could not come with me as he couldn’t get leave from work. I had prepared his clothes and left them on the bed before I left. Today, I learned that he died.”