An explosion at a steel plant plunged Indonesia's island of Sulawesi into mourning on Sunday, where at least 13 workers were reported dead and 46 others injured. Early reports indicate that a failure in one of the smelting furnaces at a Chinese-owned nickel plant led to the tragedy.
Four of the victims were reportedly Chinese workers and nine were Indonesians. The explosion occurred while the furnace was being repaired, Central Sulawesi Police Chief Agus Nugroho said.
The blast was so strong that it destroyed the furnace and damaged part of the building's side walls, Nugroho said, confirming that he and about 46 workers — 14 of them Chinese nationals — were injured, some of whom were in serious condition.
The tragedy took place at around 5:30 a.m. (local time) at the plant of PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (IMIP), one of the 52 companies that make up the industrial estate that covers 3,000 hectares on the east side of the island of Sulawesi.
Local police sources and company representatives confirmed that it is a nickel processing facility in the Morwali Industrial Park.
Nickel is a key component in the production of batteries for electric vehicles.
Several of the injured were rushed to medical centers in the area. Photo: AFP.
"We sincerely apologize for this incident and are working closely with authorities to investigate what caused the accident," said Deddy Kurniawan, a spokesman for the Chinese company.
Rescuers put out the fire and evacuated workers in a nearly four-hour operation, according to reports.
In a statement released Sunday afternoon by the company, Kurniawan said the furnace was undergoing maintenance and was not in operation at the time.
Police had to cordon off the area after the oven exploded. Photo: AP.
However, "residues in the kiln" came into contact "with flammable objects", causing the walls of the kiln to collapse and the remaining steel surplus to violently spill outwards.
The company had earlier said explosive liquids at the bottom of the furnace set off a fire and explosion in nearby oxygen bottles.
Dangerous Background in the Same Province of Indonesia
Sunday's crash is the third fatal accident this year at Chinese nickel plants in Central Sulawesi province, which has Indonesia's largest nickel reserves.
Two dump truck operators were killed in April by a mass of black sludge after a nickel waste storage facility collapsed.
And in January, two workers, one of them Chinese, were killed in riots involving workers and security guards at a firm with Chinese and Indonesian involvement in North Morowali.
But tragedies were not only recorded in 2023. Over the past year, a truck ran over and killed a Chinese worker repairing a road in the PT IMIP mining area, and an Indonesian man was burned to death in a kiln explosion at the company's factory.
Almost 50% of PT IMIP's shares are owned by a Chinese firm and the rest belong to two Indonesian companies. It started nickel smelting in 2013 and already operates the largest nickel industrial zone in Indonesia.
With information from AP
AGE