Hyderabad : Rescue efforts are on to rescue nine persons trapped in a fire mishap at left bank of TS Genco’s hydel power station at Srisailam canal in Nagarkurnool district of Telangana.
Reportedly, the incident took place late on Thursday. Initial reports indicate that a short circuit led to the fire and thick smoke engulfing the spot.
Of the 17 persons present at the spot, 8 escaped to safety through a tunnel. Those trapped include six TS Genco employees and three private company employees.
Firefighters were rushed to the spot and trying to rescue the trapped including a deputy engineer and assistant engineers. Officials said thick smoke is hampering rescue operations.
Telangana minister Jagadish Reddy and TS Genco CMD Prabhakar Rao reached the spot and are overseeing rescue efforts.
Reddy said that the mishap occurred in the first unit of the power station and four panels were damaged. He said the rescue personnel were unable to enter the tunnel due to thick smoke.
Rescue personnel are being brought in from the Singareni collieries to support the rescue operations.
Power generation operations at the power station have been suspended following the incident.
The Srisailam dam is located across the Krishna River, which serves as the border between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The case fatality rate has declined to 1.89 per cent while the recovery rate has risen to 74.30 per cent.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 3,34,67,237 samples have been tested up to August 20 with 8,05,985 samples being tested on Thursday.
India’s eight states have recorded higher than one lakh number of COVID-19 cases each. It includes Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal and Bihar.
Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with a total of 6,43,289 cases and 21,359 deaths; followed by Tamil Nadu with 3,61,435 cases and 6,239 deaths.
India is third in the world behind the US with 55,73,501 cases and 1,73,114 deaths, followed by Brazil with 35,01,975 infections and 1,12,304 deaths.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is currently trying to evacuate those trapped inside. They are being assisted by firemen. Teams from Singareni with experience in handling underground units are also present at the accident site.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy has cancelled his visit to Srisailam project site where he was supposed to conduct Jala Harathi (puja). Meanwhile, Telangana chief minister KCR Rao’s office said that he is continuously monitoring the operations at the accident site.
Energy minister Jagadish Reddy, minister Niranjan Reddy, CMD Prabhakar Rao, who reached the accident site at the night, are overseeing rescue efforts.
This is the first such accident at the plant, said Mr Rao. “Why it happened has to be investigated. How much damage has happened we will know only after the smoke goes away. Our priority right now is to rescue those trapped inside,” he added.
