At least 11 officials and workers were killed and many injured when an explosion took place in Vizag Steel Plant (VSP) here tonight. The explosion took place in the oxygen tank House in Blast Furnace- two of the VSP, sources said. There are fears that the number of casualties could rise. A spokesman of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), the corporate entity of the VSP, described the incident as unfortunate and said the exact reason for the accident was being ascertained. According to sources, the accident occurred at around 2030 hours when an earth mover was deployed to remove slag which got stuck in the blast furnace.
While inserting a steel rod to remove the slag through a hole, the slag accompanied by hot metal gushed out and fell on the machine.
UNI