Visakhapatnam:
The death toll in last week's blast at the state-owned steel plant in Visakhapatnam rose to 16 with one more senior officer succumbing to burn injuries.
Assistant General Manager, steel melting shop (SMS), M B R S Sarma, who was shifted to Mumbai a few days back for quality medical care, died this morning, according to sources.
The explosion had occurred at 'oxygen control unit' near the SMS-II at the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) on the night of June 13.
General Manager (Projects) D S Kalsi and a private company employee R Bhattacharya were undergoing treatment at a hospital in Mumbai while Deputy Manager Prabhakara Rao was being treated at a hospital in Visakhapatnam, sources said adding that their condition was critical.
Meanwhile, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) Chairman and Managing Director A P Choudhary on Monday visited the plant and took stock of the situation.
Mr Choudhary, who arrived from the US last night, held a series of meeting with trade union leaders and senior executive of the plant.
The unions expressed confidence in the management and workforce and said the blast incident was a collective challenge for the entire company and they will work together for coming out of this situation, a release from Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), which runs the plant, said in Visakhapatnam.
"The RINL management will take workers into confidence while commissioning the new units in future. Expert opinion will be taken into account and expansion will be undertaken without compromising on safety standards," Mr Choudhary said.
He informed the union leaders that the monetary compensation will be handed over to the family members of the dead employees by Tuesday.
Mr Choudhary also met company employees undergoing treatment for burn injuries, the release added.