In a tragic accident, nine people died while 15 others managed to escape after a fire broke out in an underground hydroelectricity power station at Srisailam in Telangana. Of the nine, seven were government employees and two private persons.
All nine people, who were stuck during the fire accident and explosion, were declared dead after 18 hours of the mishap.
The fire occurred at 10:30 pm on Thursday but came to light on Friday morning only. At the time of the accident, 20 people were working inside; 11 of them ran outside of the tunnel where the power plant is located and 9 were stuck inside.
CISF and NDRF teams participated in the rescue operation and shifted the injured to nearby hospitals. Genco Hospital doctors conducted a postmortem where the dead were identified as Venkat Rao, Mohan Kumar, Uzma Fathima,Sunder who were Assistant Engineers and DE Srinivas Goud was also killed in this mishap. Plant attendants Rambabu and Kiran too lost their lives. Two private employees belonging to Amaran Battery employees died in the incident as they had come to plant to fix some battery problems.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences by tweeting, “Fire at Srisailam hydroelectric plant is deeply unfortunate. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I hope that the injured recover at the earliest.”
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy in a message said that he was saddened by the fire accident in the Hydel Power Generation Unit on the left banks of Srisailam and spoke to the NDRF personnel and directed them for immediate rescue operations.
Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao said, “Deeply shocked over the Srisailam Power Plant accident in which people who were trapped inside the plant died as all the efforts to save them have failed. It was the most tragic and my condolences to the bereaved families and we are wishing for a speedy recovery for those who were undergoing treatment.”
The CM ordered a CID probe into the fire mishap. He made it clear that the probe must bring out the conditions that led to the accident and also the reasons behind the accident. As per the directions of the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar has appointed CID Additional DGP Govind Singh as the inquiry officer. He has directed Govind Singh to submit a comprehensive report to the government on the incident after a thorough investigation and has assured of swift and adequate action against any negligence.