Family members of workers at the Qinghe Special Steel Corp in China's Liaoning Province wait for news yesterday. Thirty tons of molten steel spilled from a falling ladle at the plant, killing 32 workers and injuring six. - Xinhua

Thirty-two workers were killed and six injured yesterday after they were engulfed in a wave of molten metal in a steel plant in northeast China's Liaoning Province, safety authorities said.

The mishap occurred at 7:45am in a workshop at the Qinghe Special Steel Corp in Tieling City when a huge ladle used for pouring molten metal sheared off from the blast furnace.

The ladle, two meters in diameter and containing 30 tons of 1,500-degree-Celsius liquid, was moving into pouring position above a work table when it fell. It spilled white-hot molten metal into a room where workers had gathered as they changed shifts.

The liquid metal filled the room, bursting through its door and windows and burying the workers.

Work safety officials who rushed to the site said the bodies of 32 workers had been recovered and the injured taken for hospital treatment.

One of the injured was in a critical condition and the others were stable, doctors said.

Because the bodies were burned beyond recognition, DNA technology will be used for identification, officials said.

The families of the victims will receive at least 200,000 yuan (US$26,000) each in compensation, the officials said.

The cause of the accident was under investigation last night. The plant owner and three employees in charge of work safety have been arrested.