Bhilai Steel Plant Blast: The blast took place in a pipeline near the coke oven section.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Bhilai Steel Plant was removed and two other senior officials were suspended today, a day after a blast at the plant which claimed the lives of 11 employees.

This was stated by Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh after visiting the injured employees of the plant at the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Bhilai town, located around 30 km from Raipur.

On Tuesday, nine people had died and 14 others were injured in the gas pipeline blast at the plant of the state-owned Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) in Chhattisgarh's Durg district.

Of the 14 injured people admitted to the burns unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital in Bhilai, two died late on Tuesday night, a public relations officer of the Bhilai Steel Plant told news agency PTI.

CEO M Ravi has been removed with immediate affect while General Manager (safety department) T Pandya Raja and Deputy General Manager (energy department) Naveen Kumar have been suspended, Birender Singh told reporters.

Earlier, Inspector General of Police (Durg Range) GP Singh had said that after receiving the postmortem report of the deceased, a case under the Indian Penal Code Section 304 (A) (causing death by negligence) will be registered followed by an inquiry into the incident.

Union Minister of State for Steel Vishnudeo Sai had said Tuesday that a four-member high-level committee was constituted by SAIL to probe the incident.

The explosion had taken place in the gas pipeline connected to the coke oven section of the plant during a maintenance job, the SAIL had said.

