Blaze at Turkey’s Iskenderun port under control -maritime authority

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A container blaze at Turkey’s southern port of Iskenderun has been brought under control, Turkey’s maritime authority said on Wednesday, following combined extinguishing efforts from land, sea and air.

Operations at the port were shut down until further notice after a fire broke out due to the earthquakes that hit the region on Monday, and freighters were diverted to other ports.

“Pending ships should be directed to other facilities as ship handling services cannot be provided,” the authority said in a tweet.

A source from the port said the flames had not spread to the area where flammable materials were stored, and that the nature of the fire, which has unleashed a huge cloud of black smoke over the city, was still unclear.

“We are suspecting it is plastic raw material or chemical but we could not clearly determine it as the containers collapsed and scattered,” the source said.

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Can Sezer; Editing by Daren Butler and Kevin Liffey)