HATTAR: At least 16 people were injured when a furnace exploded in a local steel mill in Hattar Industrial Estate on Wednesday, owing to heavy load of melted iron, police said.
According to the workers of Ittehad Steel Mills, the incident occurred due to breakage in the steel rope of the iron furnace which was holding tons of melted steel; 16 workers of the steel mill were injured as a result.
Workers of other factories in Hattar Industrial Estate and Hattar Police reached the spot and started a rescue operation. All injured were shifted to the burn unit of Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF) Wah Hospital where 7 scalded workers were declared critical.
Talking to APP, Hattar Police Station SHO Hadi Pristan Tanoli said that seven of the 16 injured workers were critical and shifted to Intensive Care Unit of POF Wah. He further said that a case was registered against the owner Abdul Jaleel and General Manager Jamshed in Hattar Police Station under section 337 L.
The scalded workers of the steel mills were identified as Akra, Faiz Rasheed, Sahid Rasheed, Jahangir, Sajid Ali, Waqas, Shahbaz, Waseem, Afzal, Fazal Ahmed, Saifullah, Nadeem, Saddam, Naeem Abbas, Muhammad Sher and Khurshed.
Unfortunately, all over the Hazara division, no burn unit facility was available in the hospitals to treat the injured workers.
