Four workers were confirmed dead yesterday in a gas leak at a
steel plant in Anshan, an industrial city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, the local government said
today.
The accident occurred at around midnight at Haicheng Iron and
Steel Co Ltd, a private company that produces 500,000 tons of raw
iron a year, said an official with the safety inspection bureau in
Anshan.
Five workers were on duty and were taking a nap in their office.
"Four of them had died when rescuers arrived," he said on condition
of anonymity. "The fifth one was out of danger after timely
treatment."
The leak occurred on a gas pipe connected to the company's
primary blast furnace, and the investigation is continuing
today.
Friday's tragedy came nine days after the deadliest accident in
the country's steel sector, in which molten metal spewed through a
steel plant in Tieling, Liaoning, killing 32 workers and injuring
another six.
(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2007)