TOKYO: Suspected human remains were found in a vessel for molten metal at a steel plant in Japan, hours after an employee was reported missing, police said Thursday.

An alarm was raised for a 30-year-old man at the Nippon Steel facility in Oita in western Japan on Tuesday, police spokesman Eijiro Kawano told AFP.

“After searching together with plant workers, we spotted what appears to be fragments of human bone inside a vessel,” Kawano said.

“We don’t know if these really are human bones or if they belong to the worker, 30, who went missing,” he said.

“But if these are the man’s bones, maybe the worker fell into the pot,” he said.

“Hopefully DNA tests will help us find out,” Kawano said, adding police were looking into whether any workers witnessed what happened.

The pot, reportedly containing molten metal heated to over 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 Fahrenheit) and four metres (13 feet) deep, was about five meters below where the man was working, Kawano said.

“We are still investigating details,” a Nippon Steel spokesman told AFP.

“We continue to fully cooperate with the relevant authorities,” he said.

The grisly potential incident comes as the firm tries to complete a $14-billion takeover of US Steel that has become contentious ahead of elections in the United States in November.

AFP