A heavy fire broke out on Monday in the Turkish port of the city of Alexandretta, in the southeast of the country, as a result of the earthquakes that have taken place in the area, especially in the Turkish province of Kahramanmaras, and which have so far killed more than 2,400 people in Turkish and Syrian territory.
Several containers of goods have caught fire, so that a large column of smoke has been observed over the port, according to information from the newspaper ‘Sabah’, which has disseminated a series of images of the flames.
The earthquakes had caused containers to pile up on top of each other in the area. Thus, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Fatih Donmez, has warned that the earthquakes have caused «severe damage» to the energy infrastructure in the southeast of the country.
In this regard, he explained that gas and electricity supplies have been damaged, although two key oil pipelines and a nuclear power plant have not suffered significant damage. The maritime authorities, for their part, have confirmed the damage to the port of Alejandreta, which overlooks the Mediterranean.
Earlier, energy operator BOTAS had announced the suspension of natural gas supplies to the Gaziantep, Hatay and Kahramanmaras areas due to damage to supply lines. According to Donmez, the main supply line in the Turkoglu district is the most damaged.
«It is the main line that delivers supplies, especially, to Kahramanmaras. Right now these areas could experience power outages and blackouts,» he said, as reported by ‘Daily Sabah’.
He explained that there are already teams working in the area to repair the damaged lines. «We have set up several mobile power stations in the area. We will try to supply electricity and gas as a priority to facilities such as hospitals, canteens and bakeries,» he said.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
