A FIREFIGHTING PLANE DROPS FIRE RETARDENT OF A REFINERY BLAZE IN IZMIT, 1999-08-18 (photo)

An aeroplane drops fire retardent onto the Tupas refinery as smoke billows from the Izmit refinery August 18. Turkish authorities said on Wednesday they were gaining control of a fire at Turkey's biggest oil refinery, ignited by a devastating earthquake, after several firefighting planes arrived. Staff at the 226,000 barrels per day (bpd) plant at the northwestern city of Izmit and residents in the area were evacuated after officials said it could explode and spread havoc across a radius of four to five km (two to three miles). The death toll rose from Tuesday's earthquake to 2,399 at 0840 GMT, officials at the earthquake crisis centre said. Turkish seismologists put the quake at 7.4 on the Richter scale, more powerful than first thought. RE/JDP