An Ogun State - based steel company , African Foundries Limited , says it has lost three of
its factory workers who were injured when molten metal spilled on them on its
premises .
It said that the incident occurred when the affected workers were taking their bath at
the firm’ s Ogijo plant on Thursday .
In a statement made available to
our correspondent on Friday , the
company explained that the
deceased had closed from work
earlier and were taking their bath
in the open in an unauthorised
location that had been marked
‘ restricted ’ when molten metal from
a furnace in the factory accidently
spilled on them .
According to the statement signed
by the firm ’ s Executive Director ,
Uche Iwuamadi , the workers had
neglected the bathrooms provided
for staff members inside the
complex, choosing to take their bath outside .
They were said to have been immediately rushed to hospital where they later passed on .
The incident was said to have provoked a riot from the local staff members who were
later joined by hoodlums , leading to the destruction and looting of the company ’ s
property and cash .
Foreign nationals and other staff members were also alleged to have been injured in the
riot when the hoodlums attacked them in their residential quarters within the plants .
Our correspondent learned that it took a combined intervention of the police and
military personnel to bring the situation under control .
The Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State , Abimbola Oyeyemi , confirmed the
incident .
He said that the Commissioner of Police , Bashir Makama , deployed deputy
commissioners and area commanders to the area as soon as he learnt about the riot and
they were able to restore order .
He said that the police went further to
arrange a peace meeting between the
family of the deceased and the company
towards arriving at an amicable
resolution .
According to him , some hoodlums ,
however, returned to the firm with the
intention of looting and destroying
property but were repelled by the police .
Fifteen of them were said to have been
arrested .