New Delhi: A boiler explosion at an NLC India thermal power plant in Neyveli injured eight workers who have been hospitalised, the company said.
The fire broke out at the TS II Power plant at Neyveli, resulting in burn injuries to two regular employees and six contract workers, NLC India Ltd said in a statement.
The boiler is 84-meter high and when the accident occurred, the workers and technicians were at a height of about 32 meters, an NLC India official said.
The fire has been brought under control by the fire wing of CISF Unit of NLCIL, the company said.
“The company has constituted a six-member committee headed by a General Manager to enquire into the incident and give its findings at the earliest for taking further necessary action,” the company said.
NLC India chairman and managing director Rakesh Kumar told PTI that the injured persons were immediately shifted to Kaveri Hospital in Trichy where they are undergoing treatment.
A team of executives of the company has been sent along the injured to help them and coordinate their treatment, he said.
Arising out of the incident, two other generating units of 210 MW capacity each have also been shut down and these units will be restored for power generation only after all safety aspects have been taken care of which is expected to be completed shortly.
Simultaneously, the company is ensuring that the injured workmen are given the best possible treatment with necessary support extended to their families by NLCIL, NLC India said.
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The explosion comes hot on the heels of another incident in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district where seven workers fell ill after inhaling some poisonous gas at a paper mill.
Raigarh superintendent of police Santosh Singh said that the victims were cleaning an open tank on Wednesday evening at the Shakti Paper Mill, which had been shut ever since the nationwide lockdown was enforced and the cleaning work was underway to resume operations, in Tetla village.
The factory owner allegedly did not inform the administration about the incident, which only came to light after the hospital authorities alerted the police.
On Thursday, over 10 persons, including a child and two senior citizens, were killed and more than 5,000 people fell sick after a styrene gas leak at a chemical plant in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh in the wee hours of Thursday.
The gas leakage is believed to have taken place when the plant’s employees were preparing to reopen it following some recent relaxations announced by the government.
(With inputs from PTI)