Molten metal explosion was horrific and catastrophic

Here is a recent molten metal explosion which was both catastrophic and one plant's worst nightmare coming true.

Industrial accident specialists have begun looking into what caused explosions at an aluminum recycling factory during the recent torrential rainfall in western Japan.

An aluminum furnace at the plant in Soja City, Okayama Prefecture, exploded on July 6th, 2018. A number of local residents were injured and 3 buildings burned down. The incident also damaged roofs and windows of homes across a wide area.

City authorities say the plant had been inundated due to the heavy rain before the blasts, prompting its workers to suspend the furnace's operation and leave.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency sent the group of specialists to the plant on Thursday to look into the cause of the explosions and possible links to the rainfall.

The experts will interview local firefighting authorities and others. They will also view the premises of the plant.

A senior official of the agency's National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster, says only the framework of the plant is still recognizable at the site. He adds that pipes have been scattered around, indicating a huge explosion occurred.

A man in Okayama says the dashboard camera of his vehicle captured the explosions. The footage shows orange flames shooting up followed by several smaller blasts.

The man says he heard big noises and felt light impacts from the explosions. And he adds he saw countless small objects burning and scattering like what happens in a volcanic eruption.

All news media reports are that no workers died in this explosion due to prior evacuation. But, we have read that hundreds of nearby residents may have died in the flooding that contributed to this explosion. It is for those who have perished in the flooding and those who were injured that we pray.

From past experiences we would expect that this explosion created an earthquake with the aluminium plant being the epicenter. A previous casthouse explosion the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog posted created an earthquake the went out 75 kilometers. It is unknown how far and the magnitude of earthquake that was generated from this explosion. 

We will update this explosion when we have further information.

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