Posted on 04/20/2007 6:38:49 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Workers recount tragedy at China steel factory
by Robert J. Saiget
Thu Apr 19, 3:18 AM ET
Survivors of a horrific industrial accident in northeast China Thursday recounted the gruesome scene at their factory when 26 tonnes of molten steel poured into a meeting room, killing 32 workers.
A steel ladle sheared off a blast furnace, sending liquid metal into the room and engulfing workers as they prepared for their shift Wednesday morning.
"All those boys are gone, only the guys that were just about to get off work were lucky enough to escape," the Beijing News quoted survivor Jiao Zhengyan as saying.
"The molten steel is 1,500 Centigrade (2,732 degrees Fahrenheit) as it hits the ground and spills all over, the heat wave rushes over you and your clothes burn off. I didn't have time to think about it, I just ran to save my life."
The accident happened at Qinghe Special Steel Corp, a relatively modern facility in China's former industrial heartland in Liaoning province.
Six other workers were injured in the accident with one suffering burns over 60 percent of his body.
Those killed in the accident were burnt beyond recognition, and authorities said they would have to use DNA testing to identify the victims.
"Right after the accident, I went to the scene, but there was no one in the room, they had all been consumed by the steel," another unidentified worker at the factory told the New Express daily. "All that was in the room was a 70-square-meter block of steel."
Worker Jiao said he was near the ladle when an apparent brake failure on the crane sent the bucket crashing into a platform car and raining liquid steel onto the workers.
"It hit a platform car and then started spilling molten steel in the direction of the shift transfer room where they were having their safety meeting. That was the most tragic moment," said Jiao, 38.
Another survivor, Zhou Xiaofei, said a shower of molten steel began raining down on him as he exited the factory as fast as he could.
"We were preparing to change the shift when suddenly I heard a loud bang, I immediately knew something was wrong, and I ran for my life, but big drops of molten steel spilled on me," Zhou said.
"I just ran, if I had hesitated for a moment, even to turn and look, then I might not have made it out of there alive."
Zhou went into surgery at a local hospital on Thursday, suffering burns over his face, arms and legs.
The accident highlights China's dismal industrial safety record and came as the government prepared to announce Thursday yet another double-digit expansion of the nation's booming economy in the first quarter of 2007.
The head of the workshop where the accident occurred and the machine operator and technician of the workshop have all been taken into custody and are under investigation, local police said.
"Families of victims will receive at least 200,000 yuan (25,800 dollars) each in compensation," Xinhua reported, quoting unnamed officials.
China's work safety administration said the factory employed some 300 workers, while Xinhua said the plant was relatively new, established in 1987, and employed 650 workers.
The hook latch on the ladle is intact and it looks like the crane hook is on the floor with the cables laying towards it.
It looks like the hoist brake failed allowing the hook and ladle to drop all the way down.
Poor design.
Sorry, but this didn’t happen. It has to be a bunch of lies because Rosie O’Donnell said that fire can’t melt steel.
Circa 1930?
Condolences to the workers families and friends.
While going to college, I worked in a steel mill for 3 years on midnights. Many times I was on the (hot) floor near the open hearth. The grizzled oldtimers would tell me stories of workers/foremen that had been thrown into the hearth back in the day. I never really believed them. I thought they were just trying to scare a young guy. They never joked when they told these stories.
I remember hearing of a similar accident about 30 years ago in Mexico.
It’s terrible no matter how you look at it.
Wonder how much “Melamine” was in that batch ?
Thanks be to a merciful God. I've often wondered about the suffering people endure in horrific events (911), deliberate acts of torture (Sadam's industrial shredders), etc... I've come to the conclusion that most accidents are over so quickly that the person probably experiences very little pain, and if it is a prolonged event, I would assume that shock is induced so that the person experiences very little in the way of pain.
Yeah, temperatures like that, there’s only a few seconds at most, especially when you’re in direct contact with as good a heat conductor as steel. Given the temperature, material and amount, it was probably almost instantaneous.
I worked next to a small outfit 15 years ago that melted aluminum into ingots.....
A guy who worked there mistakenly emptied a 55 gallon drum of scrap into the furnace....without checking to see if water collected in the bottom of the drum.
He was blown out of his shoes.....tossed about 75 feet out through a garage door into the parking lot and had 3rd degree burns over 100% of his body....he pretty much looked like a pig at a pig roast...his skin blackened and split like a hot dog too close to the grill fire....
I felt a distinct “thump” when the furnace blew up....kinda like a single clap of thunder....
Industrial accidents can be pretty gruesome.
A casting operation was underway when a ladel slipped and poured molton steel across the floor injuring or killing dozens of workers.
In a thread on CPR I came across a FReeper who said he had to explain to a state EMT board why he hadn’t started CPR on a guy who was decapitated at his plant. Luckily, he didn’t have to explain it a few months later when a guy got hit with a glob of molten steal and most of his chest was missing.
Great minds think alike? (See #l7)
I’m glad I’m not the only one who had that thought. I didn’t want to be disrespectful.
“Great minds think alike? (See #l7)
I’m glad I’m not the only one who had that thought. I didn’t want to be disrespectful.”
OOPS! I mean see #14!!
Evidently you have never had anything to do with Communist China, OSHA or labor unions...
I have and it is a toss up as to which is worse... The Chicoms, OSHA or unions!
Our condolensces to the families of the workers who died in this horrible accident. Seems like the Communist Party of Red China is more concerned with producing steel than with the safety of its workers (esp. miners).
I wonder if the communists/marxists who now run the AFL-CIO will say anything about workers rights and safety, or will they just continue to support Hillary and Edwards and Kerry?
The Political Director of the AFL-CIO has the same name and work record as an old Communist Party USA member, and the sons of veteran CPUSA subversives have been listed as AFL-CIO officials.
Boy, George Meany must be spinning in his grave, along with Jay Lovestone and other ex-reds who once cleaned up the union.
” China needs an OSHA and labor unions so we can level the playing field.”
OK, I understand that this is Communist China we’re talking about, but you really hate them that much?
/I’m not even sure if I’m trying to be sarcastic or not...
At that temperature, there will be nothing left of the bodies—they will have been completely cremated. The blast of hot air alone would have been enough to instantly kill those poor people.
Is this the factory owned by Richard Blum and his wife Diane Feinstein?
Communists started out as union organizers. Supposedly everyone in the Workers Paradise of China is protected by unions and law, written into their constitution.
Of course, very quickly the union leaders had to be party members, and soon even party members had scant true protection.
It is politics over there just like our union over here. Maybe fewer Italians running the unions, but wise guys none the less in charge.
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