Tragedy in Indonesia: at least 13 dead in the explosion of a nickel smelting furnace

A explosion in a steel mill we cried this Sunday on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, where this was reported at least 13 workers died and 46 other people were injured. Initial reports indicate that the tragedy was caused by a fault in one of the smelting furnaces at a Chinese-owned nickel plant.

Four of the victims were reportedly Chinese workers and nine were Indonesians. The explosion happened when the oven was repairedaccording to Central Sulawesi police chief Agus Nugroho.

The detonation was strong enough to destroy the furnace and damage part of the building’s side walls, said Nugroho, who confirmed that about 46 workers, 14 of them Chinese citizens, were injured, some seriously injured.

The tragedy occurred around 5.30 am (local time) in the PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (IMIP) plant, one of the 52 companies that make up the industrial zone which extends for 3,000 hectares on the eastern side of the island of Sulawesi.

Local police sources and company representatives confirmed that it is a nickel processing plant in the Morwali Industrial Park.

Nickel is a key component in the production of electric vehicle batteries.

“We we sincerely apologize for this accident and we are working closely with the authorities to investigate the causes of the accident”, said the spokesperson of the Chinese company, Deddy Kurniawan.

Rescuers put out the fire and evacuated the workers an almost four-hour operationas reported.

In a statement released by the company on Sunday afternoon, Kurniawan said the oven was undergoing maintenance and was not in operation at the time.

However, the “furnace residue” came into contact “with flammable objects,” causing the furnace walls to collapse and any excess steel that remained to be violently ejected outward.

The company had previously said that explosive liquids at the bottom of the oven had triggered a fire and explosion in nearby oxygen tanks.

Dangerous antecedents in the same province of Indonesia

What happened on Sunday is the third fatal accident this year at Chinese nickel plants in Central Sulawesi province, which has the largest nickel reserves in Indonesia.

Two dump truck operators were killed in April by a mass of black mud following the collapse of a nickel waste storage facility.

And in January, two workers, one of them Chinese, were killed in clashes involving workers and security guards at a company with Chinese and Indonesian participation in North Morowali.

But tragedies aren’t just happening in 2023. Last year, a truck hit and killed a Chinese worker repairing a road in the PT IMIP mining area, and an Indonesian man was burned to death in a furnace explosion in the company’s factory.

Nearly 50% of PT IMIP’s shares are owned by a Chinese company and the rest belong to two Indonesian companies. It started nickel smelting in 2013 and already operates the largest nickel industrial zone in Indonesia.