If you read the article, in at least one instance someone ended up with a broken jaw. That much force is definitely enough to kill someone, it would just depend where they were hit and their baseline health. Imagine a child standing next to the machine when it fell apart. Or an older person getting hit in the head.

Assuming 1400rpm and a 30cm radius loader, the edge is moving at over 150km/h. Probably close to 10kg material spinning around so that's a lot of energy. Not something I would like to be close to if it explodes.

I don't know that it's that implausible that flying shrapnel could kill or seriously injure someone if it hit them in the right place.