Four workers were killed and 14 others injured after molten iron spilled out of an electric furnace at a melting factory in southwest China's Chongqing early Friday, an official said.

The accident occurred around 8 a.m. at the Taizheng Manganese Company in Chengkou County. Raw metal, being fed into an electric furnace, suddenly dropped in all at once. It caused molten iron overflow, the county's Party chief Mi Shaolin said.

Four people died on the spot. The 14 injured, four in critical condition, have been sent to the Chengkou County People's Hospital.

Three burn injury experts have flown in via helicopter from the Chongqing city proper to the county to help treat the injured.

Mi said an initial investigation showed the overflow was accidental and not caused by lax safety management, however, a final determination has not been made.

Other furnaces continued operating at the company which sells products to steel businesses. The Taizheng Manganese Company, has an annual production value of about 600 million yuan (87 million U.S. dollars).

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2008)