At least eight workers were killed and six others injured when molten steel was accidentally spilled on them from a ladle that exploded while transporting hot metal to a casting unit at the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) on Monday, officials said.
M Abhishiketh Kishore, Visakhapatnam district collector, said the incident occurred around 4.15 pm at the central government project also known as Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
Kishore, who visited the accident site, told reporters, “Eight workers were killed and six others were injured in the accident.”
This is the worst accident to hit the 34-year-old factory in 14 years. On June 14, 2012, 19 workers, including some officials, died in a massive explosion at the oxygen plant of RINL’s Steel Smelting Unit III.
What happened?
Union Minister of State for Steel Bhupatiraju Srinivasa Varma, who was rushing to Visakhapatnam from his office at his camp in Bhimavaram, told reporters that the explosion occurred when nearly 150 tonnes of molten steel – heated to nearly 1,500 degrees Celsius – was transported in a ladle to Machine No. 2 as part of the steel manufacturing process.
The ladle then exploded, spilling hot, molten metal onto the workers.
The minister said that eight workers were killed in the accident and six workers who were working near a nearby machine were seriously injured.
The condition of the four injured workers was stable, while two were in critical condition.
“Providing the best possible medical treatment to the injured is our top priority,” Varma said. He added that the government kept an air ambulance on standby to transport the injured to receive advanced medical care if necessary.
The minister said that the exact cause of the accident has not yet been determined.
He added, “The detailed investigation will examine whether a technical failure occurred while transporting the molten steel through the ladle, including the possibility of cut wires or any other mechanical failure that may have caused the explosion.”
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According to a senior employee of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and union leader D Adinarayana, the deceased workers included five regular employees, identified as technicians Junitha Bhanu Kumar, GV Appa Rao, M Krishna Naghu, general foreman K Prabhakar Rao and manager Gold Kumar, along with three contract workers – Ramana, Trinath and N Appala Raju.
The accident occurred in the Continuous Casting Department (CCD) within the Steel Melting Shop (SMS) section of the plant in the thermal forging unit (STC-3), when a metal ladle carrying 150 tons of molten steel exploded while transferring hot metal from the blast furnace to the casting unit.
“The molten steel, which was at a maximum temperature of 1,500 degrees Celsius, poured out of the ladle like foam, leaked out in large quantities, and fell on the workers in the unit,” Adinarayana said, adding that the panicked workers fled the site immediately after the explosion.
“The process is to reheat the hot metal from the blast furnace at 3,000 degrees Celsius and transfer it to the casting machine through the ladle. In this process, the ladle exploded and the hot metal spilled out of the ladle,” another employee said, adding that the liquid metal spread over an area of about 500 metres.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed shock over the incident.
“He spoke to the steel plant authorities and inquired about the accident. He asked the district authorities to rush to the scene and carry out rescue operations,” an official statement said.
Union Minister for Steel H D Coomaraswamy expressed his shock. He added that the circumstances that led to the accident are being evaluated, and all necessary assistance is being provided to those affected.
Sandeep, a supervisory technician at the steel plant who was working in the adjacent section of the unit where the accident occurred, said: “I heard a loud explosion, followed by a huge fire that hit the roof of the plant. We all ran away as the hot metal with flames was rapidly spreading across the floor.”
