Hyundai worker dies inside steel works

By Lee Ji-hye

A steel mill worker at Hyundai Steelworks in eastern Incheon died after falling into a blast furnace Friday night.

The 43-year-old employee surnamed Lee fell into the furnace of molten metal boiling at 1500 degrees Celsius (2732 degrees fahrenheit), while he was operating distribution procedures placed at roughly 2.5 meters above the furnace, according to the Incheon Jungbu police Station.

A co-worker was quoted as telling the police, “We called the police as soon as Lee fell into the furnace, but by the time the fire fighters and the police got here, it was too late.”

The body was unable to be retrieved, and the police is currently undergoing investigation into how the man fell and who is to be held responsible for the accident.