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huge explosion rocked the steelworks of PT Dingxin Stainless Steel (DSS) at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, on Monday, killing a Chinese worker identified as Li Haiwei.

Morowali Police said the explosion in Fatufia subdistrict, Bahodopi district, Morowali regency, some 19 hours’ drive from the provincial capital of Palu, had occurred at 9:20 a.m. local time as Li was attempting to open a container full of pots of paint using a welding machine.

“It was then that the container suddenly exploded and killed the victim,” Morowali Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Edwan Syarif said on Tuesday.

The victim’s body was discovered near the container when Chinese and Indonesian security staff arrived at the site.

Officers promptly took the body to a clinic belonging to mineral refining company PT Bintang Delapan Mineral (BDM). According to the examination, Li suffered wounds to the back of his head and a broken leg, among other injuries.

“Such were the injuries that killed the victim at the site of the accident,” Edwan said.

He added that according to the police’s provisional investigation, the explosion had been caused by a chemical agent contained in the paint, which, its container left open, was evaporating, allowing the agent to come into contact with sparks from the welding machine operated by Li.

PT DSS is a Chinese company that together with PT BDM forms a consortium called PT Sulawesi Mining Investment (SMI). The consortium processes nickel in Morowali regency.

The company has prepared three investment stages. The first investment of US$ 635.57 million was allocated to build a nickel pig iron (NPI) smelter with a capacity of 300,000 tons per year and a steam-fueled power plant (PLTU) with a capacity of 2x65 megawatts.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo officially opened the smelter — claimed to be the biggest in the world — and the PLTU in 2015.

The second-phase investment of $1.04 billion was to increase the NPI production by 600,000 tons per year and to build another PLTU of 2x150 megawatt capacity. This phase was completed in 2015.

In the third phase, the company invested $820 million to increase NPI production by a further 300,000 tons per year. The company also plans to build another PLTU with a capacity of 300 megawatts.

The whole project is expected to be completed by 2017 with a total production capacity of 1.2 million tons per year and combined PLTU capacity of 730 megawatts.

SMI president director Alexander Barus said the company would simultaneously develop a stainless steel factory with a capacity of two million tons scheduled to be finished by 2017, as well as a cold rolled coils (CRC) stainless steel factory with a capacity of 600,000 tons per year.