Two workers were killed in an accident at the third blast furnace recently commissioned in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on Tuesday. The two, engaged by a private company, were burnt alive following a blast in the blast furnace.
Preliminary 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. It led to a blast damaging the machine and killing contract workers – Suman Thakur, 35, and Santosh Das, 45, on the spot, sources said.
The blast furnace-3 was commissioned as part of a 6.3-million-tonne expansion project of the plant.
A spokesman of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd described the incident as unfortunate and said the reason for the accident was being ascertained.
The Steel Plant Employees' Union General Secretary, Mr D. Adinarayana, blamed the management for frequent accidents in the plant.