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New Delhi: Nine people were killed and eight others were injured — three of them seriously — in a massive fire that broke out at the Srisailam Left Bank Hydel Power Station (SLBHP) in Telangana on the night of August 20, an official statement said on Friday. Seven out of the nine people who were killed in the fire in Telangana's Srisailam power station were employees of Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited (TSGENCO). "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," an official statement said.
Although officials had initially said that there were 30 employees inside the power plant when the fire broke out, an official statement released by TSGENCO said that there were 17 employees inside.
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 people who were killed in the mishap were employees of Amaron Batteries, Hyderabad — Vinesh Kumar and Mahesh Kumar.
"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.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has ordered a comprehensive probe by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) into the fire accident. He has appointed CID additional director general Govind Singh as inquiry officer and has asked him to probe the cause of fire and submit a report to the government.
Meanwhile, Jagadeeshwar Reddy, who supervised the rescue operations, said that the fire seemed to have been caused because of a short circuit in one of the electric panels of the power house and it spread to other parts and the tunnel, which is the only way to reach the plant, was engulfed in smoke, making it impossible for employees to escape. "Because of flames and heavy smoke, it was not possible to enter the tunnel. The rescue teams could enter the power house only by Friday afternoon. But by that time, all the nine employees were unfortunately found dead," the official statement said.
The Sailam hydroelectric plant is on the Telangana side of the Srisailam reservoir on Krishna river — a joint irrigation project between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
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