Two Workers died in Vizag Steel Plant furnace blast

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Vishakapatnam, Two Contract workers died in Vizag Steel Plant, Vizag Steel Plant furnace 3 blast, blast in Vizag Steel Plant, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant Furnace 3 blast, Visakhapatnam VSP, Steel Plant furnace, furnace blast, Neha Construction Private Limited, metric, May Day

Vishakapatnam - Yesterday workers celebrated May Day, Two Contract workers from bihar engaged by a private company were burnt alive following a blast in the recently commissioned blast furnace 3 of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on Tuesday. Several workers who were present in furnace 3 ran away in panic hearing the deafening sound

Reports said the accident occurred at about 4.30 p.m. 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.

Vizag Steel Plant Furnace-3 was commissioned as part of the 6.3 million tonne expansion of VSP. A spokesman of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of VSP, described the incident as unfortunate and said the exact reason for the accident was being ascertained.

"There was no way for the labourers to escape from the furnace as the hot metal gushed out at a great speed and fell on them," sources said.

A spokesman of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, the corporate entity of VSP (Vizag Steel Plant), said the mishap was unfortunate and added that the reasons for the accident were being ascertained.

The newly-erected furnace III worth Rs 1,800 crore was commissioned on April 24 as part of the 6.3 million tonne expansion plans of VSP(Vishakapatnam Steel Plant) at a cost of Rs 12,500 crore.

Officials said the new unit was the biggest blast furnace in entire Asia. The daily production of hot metal in furnace III is 7,150 metric tonnes the capacity of the other two blast furnaces is 4,500 MT each.

Employees’ Union general secretary D. Adinarayana blamed negligence on the part of Steel Plant management for frequent accidents in the plant.

The deceased workers were working for Neha Construction Private Limited. Fire brigades were rushed to the spot to put out the fire.

Tue 01 May, 2012,10:03:09 PM