17 employees inside Srisailam power plant when fire broke: TS Genco

Hyderabad: Nine people including seven employees of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TS Genco) were killed and eight others injured in a major fire mishap at the Srisailam Left Bank Hydel Power Station (SLBHP) late on Thursday night.

The deceased are said to have tried their best to protect the power plant which is one of the prestigious power plants of the country till their lost breath.

According to the TS Genco there were 17 employees inside when the fire broke out in the plant and 8 of them managed to come out of the station with injuries, nine others remained trapped inside as they
were trying their best to put out the fire and save the power plant from being burnt completely.

Out of 8 injured there were sustained  serious injuries and all the injured were admitted in the Genco Hospital at  Srisailam.

According to Genco authorities fire  erupted in the first unit of the hydel power generation unit in Domalapenta, of Amrabad Mandal in Nagarkurnool district in the late night of Thursday due to which smoke engulfed entire six power units in the underground power generation station.

While there were 19 workers inside the generation unit at the time of the fire accident, eight have escaped safely by running outside from the tunnel, remaining nine were trapped inside. Immediately power generation was stopped and  firefighting units.

Though firefighting units and rescue teams worked hard, but they could not succeed in saving the lives of all 9 trapped inside of the plant. The deceased employees of TS Genco were identified as deputy engineer Srinivas Goud (Hyderabad), assistant engineers Venkat Rao (Palvoncha), Mohan Kumar (Hyderabad) Dharavath Sunder Naik (Suryapet) and Ms. Uzma Fathima (Hyderabad), plant attendant Rambabu (Khammam), junior attendant Kiran (Palvoncha) and Vinesh Kumar and Mahesh Kumar, employees of Amaron Batteries, Hyderabad.

The Power House was constructed inside a two-km long tunnel under the Nallamala hill range adjacent to Srisailam reservoir on the Telangana side of the reservoir on Krishna river.

A 39-member Fire Rescue and Disaster Management team led by Commandant
Siddharth Raha of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) recovered the bodies with the help of the fire brigade of the power plant on Friday evening. According to the rescue team bodies of the deceased were found at the emergency escape tunnels in the plant.

Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy and TS Transco Chairman and Managing Director D Prabhakar Rao expressing grief at the mishap said that “all of them tried to come out of the escape tunnel, but they did not succeed due to the thick plumes of smoke that engulfed the entire tunnel.”

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao  expressed deep shock over at the mishap. Describing the accident as the most tragic, the CM has conveyed his condolences to members of the bereaved family. He wished speedy recovery of injured.

KCR ordered a CID Inquiry into the mishap and CID Additional DGP Govind Singh appointed as the Inquiry Officer. The chief minister also ordered the CMD of TS GENCO and Transco to constitute a high-level committee with experts to probe into the reasons for Mishap.

The Chief Minister announced Rs 50 lakhs ex-gratia to the family of the DE and Rs 25 lakhs each to the family of the deceased including the two employees of the private company.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences to those who have lost their lives in the Srisailam fire mishap and wished that those injured should recover at the earliest. In a tweet, he said “Fire at Srisailam hydroelectric plant is deeply unfortunate. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I hope those injured recover at the earliest”.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy, TPCC Chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy and State BJP President Bandi Sanjay Kumar expressed grief over the fire accident in the power plant.