Bones that appeared to be human were found on Tuesday morning in a molten steel pot at a Nippon Steel Corp. plant in southwestern Japan, police said.

A 30-year-old employee, who started his shift at the plant in Oita Prefecture at around 7 p.m. on Monday, was reported missing by security staff at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, according to the police.

The pot measures about 5 meters in diameter with a depth of about 4 meters. Temperatures inside the container reach more than 1,000 C.

==Kyodo

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