At least 26 people were injured, six of them seriously, in an explosion Friday in a foundry in the northern French city of Villedieu-les-Poeles, France Info radio reported. Earlier reports spoke of 46 people injured. The explosion occurred during a visit of some 50 tourists who had come to witness the pouring of a bell weighing 6.3 tonnes, the largest the foundry has ever produced. As the bell was being poured with molten bronze at 1100 degrees Celsius, the mould suddenly exploded, hurling fragments of red-hot metal and burning gases through the building. Most of the injured were suffering from slight burns or smoke inhalation. None of the six people taken to hospital were said to have life-threatening injuries.
