Two workers of PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel, one of the tenants at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi, were rushed to the Park’s clinic facility after they were exposed to ferronickel hot steam at around 10 pm local time on Thursday, June 13, 2024.

The two victims, however, are reported to be in better condition after they were treated at the Bungku Hospital in Morowali regency, Central Sulawesi.

Media Relation Manager of IMIP, Dedy Kurniawan, confirmed the incident. He, however, he denied that the accident was caused by explosion at the smelter furnace of PT ITSS.

"That's right. But we reiterated once again that it was not caused by an explosion, but hot steam burst inciden when the workers cleaned steel slags at the factory's floors," he said in a statement on Friday, June 14, 2024.

According to Dedy, the incident happened when a number of workers were cleaning the floors of the factory from steel slags. To ease the cleaning process, workers cut the steel slags. A worker then poured water at the freshly cut steel slag in order to speed up the cooling process. As a consequence, burst of hot steam hit the two employees.

Currently, the IMIP Safety team is investigating the accident on site.

Henri, Head of the Industrial, Mining and Energy Labor Union at IMIP, said the incident showed that there is no improvement made by PT ITSS to prevent work accident and protect the workers. On December 24, 2023, several workers were killed and some others were injured after ferronickel furnace of PT ITSS exploded.

"It is therefore imperative that a thorough audit be conducted by an independent team involving the labor union, as we stated during the ITSS tragedy last December," Henri said.

“The company must be responsible for this incident and ensure proper treatment of the victims including the fulfilment of their rights,” he added.