Ghaziabad, Sep 6 (IANS) Two workers were killed and eight critically injured Monday in a powerful blast in a furnace unit of a factory in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district, police said.

The incident, at 9 a.m. in the DVS Steels factory, was so devastating that the dead men, Jitendra and Bedu, were hurled about 10 meters away. The men died instantly.

Both were near the boiler and pushing raw material into it when the explosion took place, Superintendent of Police A.K. Vijaita said.