Seven people were killed and 12 injured in an accident on Monday
afternoon at a steel and iron company in southwest China's Guizhou
Province, according to an official with the provincial
production safety supervision administration.
Slag fell onto workers during an overhaul of the No. 2 blast
furnace at the Shuicheng Steel and Iron Corp. of Liupanshui at
about 1:30. Four people were killed instantly and three died later
in the hospital. Three of the 12 injured are in serious
condition.
Six of the dead were local farmers and the other was the deputy
chief of furnace operations at Shuicheng.
A company employee told Xinhua that the No. 14 Metallurgical
Construction Corp. of the China National Nonferrous Metals Industry
Corporation was carrying out the overhaul project, but locally
hired farmers were doing the actual labor.
An emergency group established by the No. 14 Metallurgical
Construction Corp. was continuing recovery operations as of Monday
evening. Liupanshui officials were also at the scene of the
accident.
On Tuesday the General Administration of Work Safety announced
that in the first quarter of this year, there were 206,970
accidents leading to casualties in China, resulting in 30,597
deaths.
The number of accidents declined 12.9 percent and the death toll
edged down 4.3 percent year-on-year.
(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2005)
