The death toll in last week's explosion at the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) has gone up to 17, with one of the injured officials succumbing to injuries on Wednesday.
Deputy Manager of VSP Ch Prabhakara Rao succumbed to burn injuries on Wednesday morning while undergoing treatment at a corporate hospital, hospital sources said.
The explosion had occurred at the 'oxygen control unit' near the Steel Melting Shop-II at Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) on the night of June 13.
The Andhra Pradesh government had later ordered an inquiry into the explosion.
VSP General Manager (Projects) D S Kalsi and a private company employee R Bhattacharya, who were also injured in the blast, are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Mumbai.
A Central team comprising former Steel Authority of India Limited chairman S R Jain, chairman of Metallurgical and Engineering Consultants (MECON) K K Mehrotra and the HoD of the department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, is scheduled to visit the plant today.
VSP CMD A P Choudhary had told reporters yesterday that the committee would probe the details and the causes behind the explosion and submit its report before July 18.
