Aerial view of the Morowali industrial park, May 14, 2023 in Indonesia (AFP/Archives/RIZA SALMAN)
The death toll from the explosion that occurred on Sunday in a Chinese nickel processing factory in Indonesia rose to 18, a local police official said Tuesday, who counted thirty injured people still hospitalized.
“The number of victims who died increased by five people, so the total is now 18 deaths,” said Morowali police chief Suprianto, who, like many others, goes by one name. Indonesians.
The burns covered more than 70% of the bodies of most of the deceased victims, he continued, indicating that eight of them were of foreign nationality.
Among the injured, 24 people remain hospitalized, and six others are being treated in company clinics at the factory, the official added.
The accident occurred around 5:30 a.m. local time (9:30 p.m. GMT Saturday) at a factory of the Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (ITSS) company in the Morowali industrial park, on the island of Sulawesi (east), about 1,800 kilometers as the crow flies from the capital Jakarta.
The island of Sulawesi is a major production center for nickel, a metal used in particular in electric car batteries and for the manufacture of stainless steel.
China has invested heavily in factories there but the working and safety conditions there are often criticized.
According to the first elements of the investigation, the explosion occurred during repair work on a blast furnace. A flammable liquid ignited, and the fire spread to oxygen tanks which exploded.
ITSS is a subsidiary of the world number one nickel producer, the Chinese group Tsingshan Holding Group, which also controls the Morowali park.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Monday that Beijing had asked its embassy in Jakarta to investigate the causes of the explosion, in coordination with Indonesian authorities.
In January, two workers, including a Chinese citizen, were killed at a nickel smelting plant located in the same industrial complex during a riot over wage conditions and workplace safety. In June, an accident occurred at this factory left one dead and six injured.
© 2023 AFP
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