Blast Reported in Gas Pipeline at SAIL's BSP Killing 7 and Injuring 14 People: Reports

According to sources, a blast is being reported in gas pipeline of SAIL's Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) killing 7 and injuring 14 workers whereas 4 people are said to be in critical condition. The incident is said to occur at 11 am today when the repair work was being carried out.

The blast took place in the gas pipeline of CDCP's (Coke Dry Cooling Plant) coke oven battery no 11 resulting which massive fire broke out at the site. People rushed to the spot for rescue to found nearly seven persons charred to death and 14 people severely injured with 80% burns who were rushed to nearby hospital. It is being suspected that more people are being trapped inside but the thick smoke inside has made rescue work more difficult.

Today's incident is second in the history of SAIL's BSP in Chhattisgarh as four years back in June 2014, a blast took place in BSP's blast furnace which killed about 6 people.
On Saturday last week, BSP churned out best ever hot metal production of 16,006 tonnes in a single day after time period of two years under the guidance of SAIL's new CEO Mr. Anil Kumar Chaudhary.

Post the accident in Jun'14, SAIL has spent INR 18,832 crore on expansion and modernisation of its Bhilai plant in Chhattisgarh till Jun'18 under which major facilities like coke oven battery, sinter machine, new blast furnace, steel melting shop etc have been installed.

BSP is a major producer of rails, large variety of wide and heavy steel plates and structural steel. With an annual production capacity of 3.153 MT of saleable steel, the plant also specialises in other products such as wire rods, merchant products, earthquake-resistant grade of TMT and heavy structural including channels and beams.