Thirty-two workers were confirmed dead and six others injured on Wednesday 
after molten metal spewed through a steel plant in northeast China's Liaoning 
Province, local work safety authorities said. 
 
 
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    Family members of steel 
 workers cry after the molten metal spew accident killed 32 
 workers and injured 6 in Qinghe Special Steel Corporation in Tieling, 
 northeast China's Liaoning Province Wednesday, April 18, 2007. 
 [Xinhua]
  
  | 
The accident occurred at 7:45 a.m. in a workshop in Qinghe Special Steel 
Corporation, in Tieling City, when a steel ladle -- used for pouring molten 
steel -- suddenly sheared off from the iron rail linking it to the blast 
furnace. 
The ladle, two meters in diameter and containing 30 tons of liquid, was 
moving into pouring position above a worktable when it fell, throwing white-hot 
molten metal at around 1,500 degrees Celsius into a room where workers had 
gathered as they changed shifts. The liquid metal engulfed the room, bursting 
through the door and windows and burying the workers. 
Work safety officials who rushed to the site said the bodies of 32 workers 
had been recovered and the six injured had been taken to hospital. 
One of the injured was in a critical condition and the others were stable 
condition, but were still in danger catching infections through their burns, 
said doctors. 
As the bodies were burned beyond recognition, DNA technology would be used 
for identification, said officials. 
The families of the victims would receive at least 200,000 yuan (US$26,000) 
each in compensation, the officials said. 
The cause of the accident is being investigated. The plant owner and three 
employees in charge of work safety have been arrested. 
The accident comes in a black week in China's industrial safety record. 
At least 47 miners are still trapped below ground in Chinese coal pits after 
three separate accidents, in Heilongjiang, Henan and Hunan provinces 
respectively, happened all on Monday. 
The privately-run mines had no valid license and certificates, but were 
operating illegally. Since the accidents, local governments have closed dozens 
of illegal coal mines. 
In the first two months of this year, coal mine accidents alone killed 357 
people, figures from the State Administration of Work Safety show. 
The government has vowed to avoid further mining accidents, setting a goal of 
reducing the death rate to 2.1 for every one million tons of coal produced by 
2010, down from 2.81 in 2005. The 2005 rate was 70 times worse than the United 
States and seven times than Russia and India.