PTI
Sakti (Chhattisgarh)
At least 13 workers were killed, while several others suffered injuries after a tube connected to a boiler exploded at a Vedanta Ltd power plant in Chhattisgarh’s Sakti district on Tuesday, the police said.
According to preliminary information, the blast occurred in a boiler tube at the Vedanta power plant in Singhitarai village in the afternoon, Sakti superintendent of police Prafull Thakur told PTI.
A cause was not immediately known.
“Eleven workers have died, and 22 have sustained injuries,” he said.
Four of the workers were killed on the spot, while the seven others succumbed to injuries at hospitals, according to the SP.
The injured were undergoing treatment at hospitals in the neighbouring Raigarh district, he informed.
Soon after the powerful blast, local administration personnel and police teams rushed to the spot and launched rescue operations, the official said.
He said as the area around the boiler remains extremely hot, workers and other staff have been evacuated from the vicinity.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai termed the explosion as “extremely tragic” and said his government firmly stands with the families of the deceased.
A probe will be conducted to ascertain the cause of the blast and strict action will be taken against those found responsible for the tragedy, he told reporters in Raipur.
The plant management, in a statement, said, “An unfortunate incident occurred at one of the boiler units at our Singhitarai plant, involving personnel from our sub-contractor, NGSL (NTPC GE Power Services Ltd), which operates and maintains the unit.”
The management insisted its immediate priority is to ensure the best possible medical assistance and treatment to those affected, and added it is closely coordinating with medical teams and local authorities.
“We are in the process of ascertaining details, and a thorough investigation has been initiated in coordination with our partner and relevant authorities,” it said.
Notably, a power plant boiler is an enclosed device that primarily converts water into steam by utilizing heat energy from fuel combustion. This steam is then used to drive turbines, which generate electricity.
