Gases dissolved in liquid steel are an odd thing to fear, but they are the leading suspect in an explosion at the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in Andhra Pradesh. A preliminary report by factory inspectors, covered by The New Indian Express, says the blast may have come from their “sudden release.”
The accident happened around 4.15 pm at Continuous Casting Machine-2 in Steel Melting Shop-1, according to the report by the Joint Chief Inspector of Factories. A ladle holding molten steel had just been turned into casting position. Before anyone could open the slide gate to let the metal through, the explosion came.
What the inspectors describe
It was violent enough that the inspectors could not at first tell whether it started in the ladle or the tundish. A fireball shot to the roof. An overhead crane in the area caught fire too. The report quotes a worker at Machine-4 who saw flames hit the ceiling right away, and says the people near Machine-2 took the worst of it.
How it works is simple enough to state. Oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen can stay trapped inside molten metal. Let enough of them collect and then escape suddenly, and the pressure can drive a violent eruption.
The report itself is cautious. It calls the finding preliminary and says a detailed technical investigation must establish the exact order of events. The accident, which killed several people and injured others, is also being examined by a three-member committee appointed by the Ministry of Steel. Priya Ranjan of the Bokaro Steel Plant, Jitendra Kumar of SAIL and former SAIL general manager Gopal Singh arrived on Tuesday. Union Minister of State for Steel Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma reviewed the inquiry’s progress.
Claims from the shop floor
Employees offer another thread. They said molten material spilled at Steel Melting Shop-2 some 15 to 20 minutes before the fatal blast, damaging a vehicle but hurting no one. Workers described it as a near miss. Several, who asked not to be named, said the June 8 explosion followed years of operational and safety concerns.
The plant’s record gives those complaints some weight. Nineteen people died on June 13, 2012, in an explosion during a trial run at the oxygen plant linked to SMS-2. Four workers were left with severe burns in December 2020 when ladle hooks failed, and four more died in November 2021 at Blast Furnace-3. In May 2026, four workers passed out after a blast furnace gas leak and all four survived.
