According to company sources, on Thursday, June 11, the Indian state-owned steel producer Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited stopped work at its steelmaking workshop 1 (SMS 1), where nine workers died in an accident and several others were seriously injured.
SMS-1 contains six casting machines, five of which usually operate continuously. On the day of the accident, casting machines 1, 2, 3 and 4 were in working order. The molten steel explosion on SMS-1 was followed by another explosion on casting machine 2 just 20 minutes later, which caused the crane to fail, except for damage to cables and equipment throughout the site.
A preliminary investigation conducted by the Department of Factories revealed that the explosion at the RINL could have been caused by the sudden release of trapped gases into molten steel, which caused a powerful explosion.
The report stated that the full bucket carrying the molten steel was rotated and placed for casting. However, before the slide gate could be opened to transfer the molten metal, a sudden and violent explosion occurred.
The force of the explosion was so strong that investigators initially could not determine whether the explosion came from a bucket or from the ground. The report mentions that a large fireball fell on the roof of the workshop, and an overhead crane operating in the area also caught fire.
"The worker stationed on the Machine-4 was reportedly a witness
