In Srisailam power station 9 people trapped due to fire mishap

 The smoke from the fire at the Telangana power station chocked the only exit point.

Nine people including seven employees of Telangana state power generation corporation (TSGenco) were killed and eight others injured-- three of them seriously-- in a major fire mishap at the Srisailam Left Bank Hydel Power Station (SLBHP) late on Thursday night, officials said.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has announced an ex gratia of Rs 50 lakh to the family of deputy engineer Venkatesh Goud and Rs 25 lakh each to the families of the eight other deceased. He also assured that one member of every bereaved family will be given a job, apart from other departmental benefits.

The SLBHP is on the Telangana side of the Srisailam reservoir on Krishna river-- a joint irrigation project between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The power house was constructed inside a two-km long tunnel under the Nallamala hill range adjacent to the reservoir.

Though the authorities initially said there were 30 employees inside the power plant when the accident occurred at 10.30 pm, an official statement from TSGenco said there were only 17 employees inside.

“Eight 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,” the statement said.

The deceased employees of TSGenco were identified as deputy engineer Srinivas Goud, assistant engineers Venkat Rao, Mohan Kumar and Uzma Fathima, plant attendant Rambabu, junior attendant Kiran and Sundar Kumar. Two other employees of Amaron Batteries, Hyderabad – Vinesh Kumar and Mahesh Kumar-- were also trapped inside the power plant and were among those found dead.

“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,” the statement said.

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