9 people feared trapped after fire breaks out at Telangana hydroelectric plant

Copious amounts of smoke prevented rescue personnel from entering the building despite three fire engines being engaged in extinguishing it, said officials.

Smoke billows from a fire at Srisailam Left Bank Power Station (SLBP), Kurnool district. | PTI

Hyderabad: Two teams comprising 20 members including three officials of Singareni Collieries Company Limited, a state-owned coal miner, have left for Srisailam Hydel Electric Power project in which nine persons are trapped due to a fire accident, a senior official of SCCL said.

“The teams are experts in rescuing people trapped in irrespirable conditions. We have equipment that can allow our personnel where there are poisonous gases and no Oxygen and also. The teams can go even if there is dense smoke,” SCCL General Manager (Rescue) S Venkateswarlu told P T I.

The official further said the teams left from Peddapalli district where the rescue teams are stationed.

Nine persons are feared trapped in Srisailam Left bank hydroelectric station located underground on the Telangana- Andhra Pradesh border after a fire broke out on Thursday night, officials said on Friday.

Though the fire was put off, thick smoke engulfed the tunnel where the power plant is located, hampering the rescue operations.

Six of the people are currently undergoing treatment at a hospital for suffocation.