A major fire broke out in the underground hydroelectric power plant in Srisailam, Telangana on Thursday night. At least 25 people were on duty, when it happened. 9 of them have been reported dead, and ten were rescued. The rest are still reported missing. Several engineers on the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation had been working on maintenance duty at the time of the fire.

The cause of the fire has been reported to be short-circuiting in the wiring, which led to the fire followed by an explosion. The NDRF was called for to conduct the rescue operations which went on for about 8 hours. The power station which has more than six power generators in the underground plant, is situated on river Krishna that divides Andhra and Telangana.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has expressed shock over the accident at Srisailam power plant. The CM spoke to Energy Minister Jagadish Reddy, CMD Prabhakar Rao, both of whom are at the accident site and are overseeing rescue efforts.

MoS Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said he was in touch with NDRF personnel. He wrote on Twitter, “Saddened by the fire accident in the Hydel Power Generation Unit on the left banks of Srisailam, Telangana, late-night yesterday [Thursday]. Spoke to the NDRF personnel and directed them for immediate rescue operations. Prayers for early recovery of the injured.” Expressing grief at the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Fire at the Srisailam hydroelectric plant is deeply unfortunate. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. I hope those injured recover at the earliest.”

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