Fire at Telangana’s Srisailam power station; at least nine persons trapped

New Delhi: Fire broke out at Left Bank Power House in Srisailam, in Telangana side on early Friday. Initial reports said that at least nine maintenance personnel of Telangana Genco are trapped inside the plant.

According to reports, a short circuit led to the fire incident. To avoid any further mishappening, power generation operations at the power station have been suspended.

There were about 17 persons present at the spot at the time of incident. Though eight of them manage to escape to safety, the remaining nine people were still trapped inside.

Ten people rescued, of which 6 are under treatment at a hospital in Srisailam. Nine people still feared trapped.

Jagadeeswar Reddy, Telangana Minister for Power said that heavy smoke coming out of the fire has caused hindrance in the rescue operations.

“Fire took place in unit 1 of the plant at around 10:30 pm. Staff and firefighters tried to put off the fire. There were GENCO staff inside the plant at the time of the accident. While 10 of them could come out safely, nine could not come. They tried to stop the power of the plant, but it was not possible. With the information they sent out; the power supply to the plant was cut off. As the smoke is so heavy, they are unable to come out. Rescue operations also could not save them,” he said.

“The firefighters tried to go inside for three times. But the situation was like that they were about to lose consciousness. Luckily, the drivers of the vehicles who took them inside had oxygen masks. So they drove the vehicles outside safely. We are trying to get the help of the Singareni Coal Mines, as they might have expertise in such situations. In fact, such a situation has never arisen in the history of hydroelectric projects, not only here, but anywhere in India. Our first priority is to rescue the trapped ones,” he added.

CM K Chandrashekhar Rao has expressed shock over the incident. He is eliciting information on the incident on a regular basis. He spoke to Minister Jagdeeshwar Reddy & Transco, Genco CMD D Prabhakar Rao who are at site & reviewed relief measures taking place there: Telangana CMO https://t.co/y5bxUgoMgu

— ANI (@ANI) August 21, 2020

A team of disaster response force, NDRF, is currently trying to evacuate those trapped inside. They are being assisted by firemen from Atmakur Fire Station from Kurnool district.

Reddy, Nagarkurnool district collector L Sarman, Telangana Transco, GENCO CMD Prabhakar Rao, local MLA G Balaraju, were among others who visited the site.

More details of the fire accident are awaited