Fiery explosions at steel plant
Whyalla locals received a shock last night when explosions and giant flames erupted at the city’s One Steel plant.
Residents were jolted awake around midnight.
Andrew Melville-Smith was woken by the noise and captured photos of the flames.
“It was like an explosion, it was quite loud and then there was another explosions and then there was a gigantic roar like a jet aircraft flying right over the top of your house,” he said.
“We could see a large amount of flames coming out of the buildings at One Steel and that’s not normal.”
One Steel said a power failure resulted in the plant’s coke ovens being shut down, which involved the immediate burning off excess gas and the sounding of an evacuation siren.
About 50 workers and contractors evacuated the site.
The gas burned for nearly an hour before the flames were extinguished.
Production resumed a few hours later when the plant was restarted.
One Steel has apologised to residents for any inconvenience and said the shutdown was unavoidable.
