Overview
- A ladle carrying about 150 tonnes of molten steel exploded or toppled in the plant’s steel‑melting/continuous casting area on Monday, spilling metal at roughly 1,500–1,600°C and causing mass burns and fire on the shop floor.
- Rescue teams and hospitals treated six injured workers after the blast and the official death toll rose to nine on Wednesday when an injured contract worker died in hospital.
- The Union Ministry of Steel has appointed a three‑member expert committee to probe the technical cause and investigators say trapped gases in the molten metal are a preliminary hypothesis to be tested.
- Authorities have ordered DNA tests to identify badly charred bodies and national and state governments have announced layered compensation packages including PMNRF relief and larger state and union support.
- Workers and unions have accused reduced staffing, poor maintenance and possible raw‑material or process faults, and the accident has halted parts of production and raised urgent safety and staffing scrutiny at the public‑sector plant.