Death toll in Bhilai Steel Plant explosion rises to 13

One more employee who was critically injured in an explosion at the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) in Durg district of Chhattisgarh died on Thursday, taking the death toll in the incident to 13, police said.

Senior technician of Energy Management Department Satya Vijay, who had suffered over 80 per cent burns, died at the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital Research Centre in Bhilai, Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Shukla told PTI.

Nine people had died and 14 others were injured on Tuesday due to a blast in a gas pipeline at the plant of the state-owned Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

Three more employees had succumbed during treatment subsequently.

Chief Executive Officer of the Bhilai Steel Plant M Ravi was removed in the wake of the incident on Wednesday.

CEO of SAIL's Durgapur Steel Plant in West Bengal, Arun Kumar Rath, has been appointed the new CEO of the BSP.

Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh, Chief Minister Raman Singh and Union Minister of State for Steel Vishnudeo Sai on Wednesday met the injured employees at the hospital.

Singh had said that two committees -- an internal committee of SAIL and another of the steel ministry -- will conduct a probe into the incident.

Families of the deceased employees will get ex-gratia of Rs 30 lakh each while the seriously injured employees will get Rs 15 lakh each, he had announced.