At the premises of Corus UK Ltd, Port Talbot, No. 5 Blast Furnace exploded at approximately 17.13 pm on 8 November 2001. The entire furnace, which with its contents weighed approximately 5000 tonnes, lifted bodily at the lap joint, rising some 0.75 m from its supporting structures, leading to the explosive release of hot materials (an estimated 200 tonnes in total, comprising largely solids and semisolids, with a little molten metal) and gases into the cast house.

Three employees died: Andrew Hutin, Stephen Galsworthy and Len Radford. A further 12 employees and contractors sustained severe injuries. Many more suffered minor injuries and shock.

Report: https://www.icheme.org/media/10689/the-explosion-of-no-5-blast-furnace-corus-uk-ltd-port-talbot.pdf

Image Credit: HSE