December 03, 2008

Aluminum spill in east China kills 14 and injures 59

Xinhua reported that at least 14 people died and 59 injured on Sunday night at a plant affiliated to the Weiqiao Pioneering Group Company at Zouping County in Shandong province when a ladle spilled molten aluminum with a temperature of 900 degrees Celsius at a factory in eastern China. The spill also cracked walls, smashed windows and caused the roof of the factory to blow off.

The 59 injured workers were hospitalized, but how serious their injuries were not known. It was not immediately clear exactly how the 14 died.

A similar accident happened in April 2007 at a steel plant at Liaoning province in northeast China when ladle transporting molten steel broke killing 32 workers.

Industrial accidents killed more than 127,000 people in China in 2005.