According to the first elements of the investigation, the explosion took place during repair work on a blast furnace. A flammable liquid ignited and the fire spread to oxygen tanks which exploded.
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An explosion left at least 12 dead and 39 injured on Sunday, December 24, at a Chinese-financed nickel processing plant in eastern Indonesia. The accident occurred around 5:30 a.m. (Saturday, 10:30 p.m. in Paris) in a factory of the company PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel in the Morowali industrial park, on the island of Sulawesi, reported in a press release Dedy Kurniawan, door -speech of this industrial zone. “The current number of victims is 51 people. Twelve people died in the accident. There are 39 people with minor or serious injuries who are currently receiving medical treatment”, he wrote. He added that the dead were seven Indonesian workers and five foreigners, but did not specify the nationality of the latter.
According to the first elements of the investigation, the explosion took place during repair work on a blast furnace. An inflammable liquid ignited and the fire spread to oxygen tanks which exploded, the spokesperson explained. The fire was extinguished on Sunday morning.
Deadly riots in the same complex in January
The island of Sulawesi is a major production center for nickel, a base metal used in particular in electric car batteries and for the manufacture of stainless steel. China has invested heavily in factories there, but working conditions there are often criticized. Last January, two workers, including a Chinese citizen, were killed at a nickel smelting plant located in the same industrial complex during a riot over wage conditions and workplace safety.
