New Delhi (NVI): Nine persons, who were trapped inside a hydroelectric plant in Telangana’s Srisailam were killed after a fire broke out late last night.
Six bodies have been recovered by rescue teams so far and efforts were on to pull out the others from the underground power plant.
The fire broke out at the fourth panel in the first hydel power unit of the power house at around 10.30 pm. Reportedly, panel boards had caught fire due to the short circuit.
According to officials, there were 19 people on duty at the time of the accident, 8 persons escaped to safety through a tunnel whereas the remaining nine were believed to be trapped inside the complex.
Firefighters reached the spot and carried out the rescue operation. They said that thick plumes of smoke due to the fire are hampering rescue operations.
Earlier today, Telangana Minister Jagadish Reddy and TS Genco CMD Prabhakar Rao reached the spot and oversaw rescue efforts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives in the incident. “Fire at the Srisailam hydroelectric plant is deeply unfortunate. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I hope those injured recover at the earliest,” he tweeted.
Fire at the Srisailam hydroelectric plant is deeply unfortunate. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I hope those injured recover at the earliest.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 21, 2020
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also expressed shock over the Srisailam power station fire mishap. Rao said that he was in touch with concerned officials and taking updates on a regular basis.
The Srisailam dam is situated on Krishna river which separates Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The station contains six power generators at the underground plant where each generator carries 150MV of power capacity.
-RJV/ARK
