Minor gas leak at RINL affects six workers

There was a minor accident in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on Monday with gas leak affecting six contract workers in the steel melt shop.

The affected workers were taken to the Visakha steel general hospital where they were given first aid and discharged. Sources said the contract workers were cutting grass below a gas pipeline in the steel melt shop. They suffered giddiness and suffocation and were immediately taken to the hospital.

Mr D. Adinarayana, Steel Plant Employees’ Union General Secretary, said that due to leakage of blast furnace gas from a pipeline, two of the workers present at the spot felt a reeling sensation. “All of them recovered a little later,” he said.

The incident occurred after activists belonging to the CPI staged a demonstration under the leadership of District Secretary, Mr J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy, seeking action against those responsible for the June 13 blast at the oxygen pressure reduction station of steel melt shop-II which claimed the lives of 19. The Union Steel Ministry has appointed a high-level committee headed by the former SAIL chairman, Mr S. R Jain, to probe into the blast and submit a report.

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