Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited has formed a six-member panel to enquire into the boiler explosion at its thermal plant in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu, in which eight persons were injured.
“An unfortunate accident has occurred in one of the boilers of NLC India Ltd today evening at around 1700 hours. The fire broke out at the TS II Power plant at Neyveli, resulting in burn injuries to two regular employees and six contract workers,” the company said in a statement on Thursday night.
The eight employees were working in the vicinity of the boiler, Chairman and Managing Director Rakesh Kumar told PTI.
According to Times of India’s report, two of the workers sustained 70% burns and are critical.
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 told Press Trust of India.
“Due to pressure, there was an explosion in the boiler and it led to a flash fire injuring six workers and two technicians,” an NLC official told PTI.
The fire was brought under control by the fire wing of CISF Unit of NLCIL, 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.
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, the company said.
NLC said the company will ensure that the injured workmen are given the best possible treatment with necessary support extended to their families.
The incident comes close on the heels of two other industrial accidents that took place on Wednesday and Thursday,
In Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district, seven workers fell ill, three of them seriously, after inhaling poisonous gas at a paper mill, police said. The victims were cleaning a recycling chamber on Wednesday evening.
In Visakhapatnam, gas leak from the LG Polymers chemical plant killed at least 11 people and over 1,000 people fell sick, many collapsing to the ground as they tried to escape the toxic vapours.
(With PTI inputs)