The island of Sulawesi is a hub for the mineral-rich country's production of nickel, a base metal used for electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel, and Beijing's growing investment has stoked unrest over working conditions at its facilities.
The accident occurred around 5:30 am (2130 GMT Saturday) at a plant owned by PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (ITSS) in the Morowali Industrial Park in Central Sulawesi province, a spokesperson for the complex said in a statement.
"The confirmed number of fatalities is 13 people, consisting of nine Indonesian workers and four workers from China," the spokesperson said in a statement, revising the number of the fallen foreign workers down one to four.
Forty-six other victims were injured, mostly due to exposure to hot steam, he said.
About 29 victims were referred to a government-run hospital in Morowali district, while 12 others were under observation at a clinic in the industrial complex and five people were receiving outpatient care.
An investigation showed the explosion happened during repair work on a furnace, which was closed for maintenance, when residual slag from the furnace flowed out and came in contact with flammable materials around the location.
The fire was extinguished Sunday morning, according to the statement.
Tsingshan Holding Group, the world's biggest nickel producer and China's biggest stainless steelmaker, holds a majority stake in ITSS.
ITSS is a tenant in the industrial park, which is also majority owned by Tsingshan along with local partner Bintang Delapan.
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