Seven persons, including two executives, were killed and six seriously injured in a blast at a steel plant at Bhadravati in Shimoga district, about 250 km from Bangalore, early on Thursday morning, police said.

The explosion occurred in the shop converter machine of the Vishweshwaraya Iron and Steel Limited, which is Steel Authority of India Limited's special alloy steels and ferro-alloys unit.

The two executives killed were Senior Manager S R Sridharamurthy and Assistant Manager B S Chandrashekar. The remaining five were workers, all of whom were aged above 50.

They were in the 11 pm - 7 am shift.

The injured were rushed to VISL General Hospital, from where they were later shifted to Bangalore.

Sources said an enquiry has been ordered into the incident.