Visakhapatnam: Minor fire mishap at RINL

Visakhapatnam: A fire broke out at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) on Saturday after the tuyeres of 26 and 27 burst at Blast Furnace II.

The Central Industrial Security Force fire tenders were rushed to the spot immediately to bring the situation under control. Fortunately, no casualties or injuries were reported in the mishap. Most of the workers at the time were not at the spot and others ran away from the location after seeing the fire.

Raw material such as coke and liquid iron and a crane got burnt in the fire and cooling pipes were also damaged in the accident. The plant authorities mentioned that it was a minor incident and the production will resume by Sunday.

The workers said that material worth Rs 25 lakh got damaged in the incident. Tuyeres are small pipes which supply hot air to blast the furnace for combustion purposes. According to the employees, pipes burst due to the heavy pressure.

Workers alleged that lack of maintenance was one of the reasons for the mishap.