Twelve people have died and 39 others have been injured following an explosion at a nickel processing factory in Indonesia . «The number of people involved is currently 51 - Dedy Kurniawan, spokesperson for the Pt Indonesia Morowali industrial park, said in a statement -. Twelve died and 39 suffered serious or minor injuries."

The accident occurred around 5.30 am (10.30 pm Italian time yesterday) in a factory of the Pt Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel company, in the industrial center of Morowali, on the island of Sulawesi, the spokesperson of the industrial district announced in a statement, Dedy Kurniawan.

The dead were 7 Indonesian workers and 5 foreigners, added the spokesperson, without however specifying the nationality of the latter.

According to a first reconstruction of the accident, the explosion occurred during repair work on a blast furnace . A flammable liquid leaked and immediately caught fire, hitting the workers involved in the operations and also causing oxygen tanks to explode.

The Indonesian archipelago of Sulawesi is a large production center of nickel, a metal widely used in the manufacture of batteries for electric cars and in the production of stainless steel . The sector is supported by strong Chinese investments.

(Unioneonline/vl)

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