High-level probe into blast at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant begins

Officials inspecting the accident site at the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on Tuesday.

A three-member external expert committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Steel visited the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL)-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) on Tuesday as part of the high-level probe into the explosion at the plant, which claimed eight lives and left six injured on Monday evening. Separately, the RINL has also initiated an internal technical inquiry into the process failure.The independent panel headed by Priya Ranjan, Director-in-Charge of the Steel Authority of India Limited’s (SAIL) Bokaro Steel Plant, includes senior technical and safety experts from major steel plants across the country, including SAIL CGM Jitendra Kumar and former CGM Gopal Singh.The team visited the accident site at Caster-2 of the Steel Melt Shop-1 (SMS-1) to ascertain the exact cause of the technical failure. It is expected to interact with the VSP management, engineers, and workers’ union representatives before submitting its final recommendations to the Union government.Preliminary reports suggest that the mishap occurred at around 4:15 p.m. on Monday during the regular casting operations. Workers were preparing to transfer molten crude steel, heated to over 1,500 degrees Celsius, from a ladle to a tundish when a high-intensity blast occurred just before the slide gate could be opened. The explosion triggered a massive fireball that rapidly engulfed Overhead Crane-2, trapping the personnel operating in the immediate vicinity.The deceased have been identified as permanent employees G.V. Appa Rao, Prabhakar, Bhanu Kumar, Krishna Nag, and Gold Kumar, along with contract workers Trinadh, Appalaraju, and Ramana. Of the six injured workers undergoing treatment in KIMS Hospital, Sheelanagar, two remain in a critical condition.Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy, accompanied by Union Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu, also inspected the blast site and met the injured workers.Minister of State for Steel and Heavy Industries Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma said that total compensation, including insurance and terminal company benefits, would amount to approximately ₹1.72 crore for permanent employees and somewhere between ₹40 lakh and ₹45 lakh for the temporary workers. Published - June 09, 2026 07:46 pm IST