Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas: those injured in blast have left hospital

Photo by Usiminas.

All 34 people injured in a blast at a plant owned by Brazilian steelmaker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA have left the hospital, the company said on Saturday.

The company, known as Usiminas, said in a statement it could not yet say when the plant near the city of Ipatinga would resume full operation following Friday’s blast, although some areas had re-started production. The plant employs about 6,500 people directly.

The blast was centered on a huge barrel-shaped piece of equipment that stores gases released during the steel production process, the company said on Friday, adding it had halted the plant’s blast furnaces temporarily.

The plant at Ipatinga, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, produced 813,000 tons of crude steel between April and June of this year, the company said in its latest earnings report.

(Reporting by Alberto Alerigi Writing by Carolina Mandl Editing by Frances Kerry)