by Peerzada Arshad Hamid
NEW DELHI, Aug 22 (NNN-XINHUA) – Rescuers yesterday recovered bodies of all the nine people, who were trapped inside a hydroelectric power plant that caught fire Thursday night, in India’s southern state of Telangana, officials said.
The fire broke out Thursday night, in its under tunnel powerhouse of the Srisailam hydroelectric plant, which is near Telangana’s border with Andhra Pradesh.
According to officials, 30 employees of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGenco) were inside the powerhouse at the time of the fire. Of them, six were rescued and brought out of the tunnel, while 15 others managed to come out through the emergency exit route.
“All the trapped nine people have been killed,” an official of TSGenco said. “Their bodies have been retrieved from the plant and efforts are going on to contain the fire.”
Officials said, thick smoke was still coming out of the tunnel and efforts were underway to lessen its intensity.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known. However, initial reports suggest, a short circuit at Srisailam dam’s left bank, might have triggered the fire.
Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao, who expressed grief over the deaths of employees in the fire, ordered a comprehensive enquiry by Crime Investigation Department (CID) to ascertain the cause of the fire inside the power plant.
Indian President, Ram Nath Kovind, said, he was pained by the loss of lives in the fire.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the incident unfortunate.
“Fire at the Srisailam hydroelectric plant is deeply unfortunate. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I hope those injured recover at the earliest,” Modi wrote on twitter.
Two local ministers rushed to the spot to oversee the rescue efforts.
Chairman and Managing Director of Transco, D Prabhakar Rao, described the mishap at Srisailam Left Bank Power station as “unprecedented” and said he had never witnessed such an incident in a hydro-electrical power unit so far.
“This is the first such accident at the plant,” Rao told media. “Why it happened has to be investigated. How much damage happened, we will know only after the smoke goes away.”
Officials said after fire broke out, they have succeeded in isolating the 400 KV power emanating from the Srisailam unit.– NNN-XINHUA
