Ten people died, three went missing, and 17 were injured in an explosion at the state-run Angang Heavy Machinery company in Anshan City, of China’s northeastern Liaoning Province.
The deadly accident occurred at 11:30 pm on Feb. 20, when a spray explosion erupted during the casting of a large steel molding. The accident has been reported on by Chinese state media, the BBC, and others.
Chinese officials said the cause of the accident was being investigated.
Some netizens questioned how three workers could be listed “missing,” since the casting workshop was not large. They wondered whether the remains could not be found because they were incinerated in the explosion of high-temperature liquefied steel.
A company spokesperson said the post-accident scene was “very messy” and the site had to first be cleaned up to determine the fate of the three missing workers.
The 17 injured workers had been sent to hospital for treatment.
Angang’s parent company, Ansteel Group has a 72-year history, with a work force of over 4,000. It mainly manufactures equipment for the metallurgical industry, power industry, and mining industry.
A Global Post report said, “Lax safety measures and a rush to feed demand from a rapidly growing economy mean that industrial accidents are relatively common in China.”
Global Post also cited Agence France Presse saying that nearly 50,000 people [in China] died in work-related accidents in the first nine months of 2011, according to figures from the State Administration of Work Safety.
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