International Center / Reported by Jiang Jirong
▲The man fell into the furnace. (Schematic / PhotographerPed Saundersflickr CC license）
A man in Switzerland fell into a 720-degree furnace at a factory a few days ago and was plunged into the furnace below his knees. Unexpectedly, the man miraculously escaped the furnace in pain. He was later airlifted to hospital with extensive burns and police are currently investigating the cause of the crash.
According to reports from “Mirror” and “Daily Mail”, an accident occurred in a factory in San Gallo (St Gallen) in north-eastern Switzerland on the evening of the 9th. A 25-year-old worker was working with another colleague to maintain a temperature of 720 degrees Celsius. Unexpectedly, the man suddenly fell through the circular opening of the furnace for unknown reasons, and was plunged knees down into the hot metal. .
Miraculously, the man crawled out of the furnace enduring pain, and Swiss air rescue medics also rushed to the scene. The man was rushed to hospital by helicopter due to extensive burns. Gallen Police are currently investigating the incident.
Coincidentally, a similar case occurred in a foundry in Mapleton, Flax, USA in June of this year: a 39-year-old worker, just hired for 9 days, accidentally fell into the furnace while extracting pieces of iron from the furnace, causing he was instantly incinerated and sadly died. The furnace temperature at the time was at least 1093 degrees Celsius. After the accident, the furnace had to cool down for several hours before staff could find the man’s remains in the furnace.
Recently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the United States Department of Labor released an industrial safety incident investigation report, pointing out that the machinery manufacturer “Kintor Heavy Industry” failed to do a good job in protecting of occupational safety, resulting in the death of employees, New Taiwan dollars).
