Minor explosion in Vizag Steel Plant blast furnace

A minor fire incident occurred at the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant’s Blast Furnace II; no one was injured in the mishap

A minor fire incident occurred at the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant’s Blast Furnace II on Friday afternoon. No one was injured in the mishap.

One of the vents bringing air into the Blast Furnace for combustion burst allowing hot slag to leak. The slag fell on a platform and set it on fire at around 1.30 p.m. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot and fire brought under control immediately. The production in the BF II was shut down and all efforts are being taken to restore production, Chairman and Managing Director P Madhusudhan said in a statement.

The Blast Furnace II was set to be taken down for capital maintenance. The production in other blast furnaces was unaffected.