The dynamite detonated during the road works in Ordu closed the Black Sea-Mediterranean connection road for 8 hours.

In Ordu, the controlled dynamite explosion on the Ünye-Akkuş-Niksar road, which will connect the Black Sea and the Mediterranean with three districts, resulted in the road being closed to traffic for about 8 hours. The moment of the explosion was captured second by second on a camera.

The road construction and expansion works that will connect the Black Sea and the Mediterranean are ongoing on the Ünye-Akkuş-Niksar road. Controlled and authorized dynamite blasting was carried out on the road where works are ongoing in the Karaarmut area of Yenikent neighborhood. After the explosion, the road was closed to traffic, and the flying rocks and soil caused damage to the hazelnut orchards and lands in the area.

“My 3-ton hazelnut orchard was destroyed”

Cevat Ekiz, a resident of the neighborhood, stated that tons of his hazelnuts were damaged due to the explosion, saying, “While the road was being constructed by the highways, the site manager caused the explosion. The explosion turned into a massacre. Such blasting should not happen anywhere. My 3-ton hazelnut orchard has been completely ruined. How am I going to clean my orchard and the stones? If they had told us they would blast dynamite here, we would have harvested the hazelnuts early. Nearly 3 tons of my hazelnuts were wasted. Even though I am an orchard owner, we had no idea that there would be blasting. I was down collecting hazelnuts when the explosion occurred. About half an hour later, the explosion happened here. The manager told us that they blasted 2.5 tons of dynamite here. They did not inform us at all. What if there were people in the orchards? Due to the explosion, rock fragments reached as far as the cemetery located on the road below,” he said.

Due to the explosion, the citizens in the region were anxious, while teams quickly started working in the area with the help of construction machines to reopen the closed road. After approximately 8 hours of work, the road was reopened to traffic with two lanes.

On the other hand, it was stated that the explosion was planned to be carried out with necessary safety precautions and all required permits from official institutions. It was reported that the blasting was conducted in this manner due to the geographical conditions of the region, as the lower part is a cliff and the upper part is a mountain, and there was no adverse situation.

The moments of the explosion were captured second by second on a citizen’s mobile phone camera.