Workers suffer minor injuries as molten steel sprays

MINGO JUNCTION, Ohio (AP) -- Eighteen workers were treated for minor injuries Friday after an apparent mechanical problem caused molten steel to spray out of a giant ladle at a Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mill.
The accident occurred in the continuous caster section of the Mingo Junction mill when a slide gate on the ladle apparently malfunctioned, company spokesman John Culler said. The ladle pours liquid steel down a chute and into a caster that produces a continuous slab of steel that is then cut.
Some workers pulled muscles as they scrambled away from the molten metal, while others suffered smoke inhalation and other minor injuries, Culler said. Cleanup was under way by early afternoon.
It was not immediately known how much steel spilled from the ladle or why the gate malfunctioned.
Wheeling-Pitt employs 3,100 people at plants in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The company is building a massive $115 million electric arc furnace that will let it make steel from either scrap or raw materials at Mingo Junction. Construction was unaffected by the accident, and the rest of the mill is operating.