http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/a … a_tragedy/
April 19, 2007
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has detained four people after a horrific accident in which more than 25 metric tons of molten steel engulfed a room where workers were changing shift, killing at least 32, state media said on Thursday.
An industrial ladle was moving into the pouring position at the plant in the northeastern province of Liaoning when it sheared off an iron rail, spewing out its 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,730 F) contents.
"The liquid metal engulfed the room, bursting through the door and windows and burying the workers," the China Daily said of Wednesday's tragedy at a plant belonging to the Qinghe Special Steel Co. Ltd.
"It is the most serious accident to hit China's steel industry since 1949," Sun Huashan, deputy head of the State Administration of Work Safety, was quoted as saying, citing the year of the founding of Communist China.
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