At least 32 workers were killed and two injured today when they were buried in white-hot molten steel at a metal factory in North East China, officials said.

The mishap was triggered when a 30-tonne-capacity steel ladle sheared off from the blast furnace, spilling liquid metal onto the factory floor three metres below.

The molten steel engulfed an adjacent room where workers had gathered for a routine shift change, the State Work Safety Administration said.

Rescuers were unable to get closer because of the intense heat emitted from the “white-hot” liquid metal which rose to 1,500 C (2,732 F), according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The accident at Qinghe Special Steel Corp in Liaoning province highlights China’s dismal industrial safety record, and came as the government prepared to announce yet another double-digit expansion of the nation’s booming economy in the first quarter of 2007.

It happened at about 7:45 am local time in a factory workship located in Tieling, a city of about three million people in China’s industrial heartland.

An official at the Qinghe crematorium in Tieling told AFP by phone that families of victims had gathered to view their loved ones, but police were refusing to allow them in until the bodies were identified.

“They are going to have to identify the bodies through DNA testing because the victims were burnt beyond recognition,” the official said. “About a dozen family members were outside the crematorium, they were all crying and sobbing."

It was unclear how many people were working at the time of the accident, or whether the workers in the room were ending or beginning their shifts. Two machine operators were also injured.

The safety administration said an undisclosed number of “responsibles” were being investigated.

A steel company official said that police had locked down the factory, usual practice in China when criminal investigations are launched into industrial accidents.

The safety administration said the factory employed some 300 workers, while Xinhua said the plant was relatively new, established in 1987, and employed 650 workers.

Last year the factory produced 70,000 tonnes of steel and had hoped to increase production to 120,000 tonnes this year.

“The provincial and city leaders have arrived to direct the aftermath,” an official at the steel company’s office told AFP. “The whole area has been blocked off by the police, but we’re still working in the office. Obviously we are all devastated."

The official said it was too early to determine the cause of the accident. Industrial accidents occur frequently in China with more than 15,000 work place fatalities recorded in 12,800 mishaps at mines, companies and factories in 2005, according to government figures.

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