Chhattisgarh Vedanta Plant Explosion: Ten workers killed, 23 injured in boiler blast

RAIPUR: A big explosion in a boiler at the Vedanta

On Tuesday afternoon, a limited thermal power plant in Chhattisgarh's Sakti district had one of the worst industrial accidents in the state in recent years. At least 13 workers died and 21 others were seriously hurt, many of them with life-threatening burns. This caused panic and a huge rescue operation.

The explosion happened at unit number 1 in the plant around 2:30 pm. The plant is in Singhitarai village, which is near the Dabhra police station.

After the explosion, police and government officials rushed to the scene, and fire trucks and rescue teams started evacuating people and providing aid.

Police think the explosion was caused by a tube breaking, which caused a leak of high-pressure steam that set off a blast in the coal-fired boiler system.

Amrit Vikas Topno, the district collector, and Prafull Thakur, the Sakti SP, both said that there were many deaths and 34 workers were badly burned.

Late at night, Rahul Patel, an officer in the industrial safety department, told TOI that the number of deaths has risen to 13 workers, and 21 are still being treated, five of them very seriously.

Officials said that four of the 13 workers who died in the incident were already dead when they got to the hospital, and six more died on the way there.

Later, three more people died from their injuries.

The injured were taken to several medical facilities in the nearby Kharsia and Raigarh districts because Sakti is a remote district and there was no immediate health care for critical cases. "Rescue operations have now been called off, and all affected workers have been evacuated from the site," said the SP, who rushed to the spot soon after receiving information and supervised rescue and relief efforts.

Prafull Thakur, the police chief of Sakti, said that the victims were contract workers from Jharkhand and Bihar, and their names had not yet been made public. Officials said that the workers are getting harder to find because of the bad burns.

Eyewitnesses said that people were running away from the plant in a panic, with workers running away through the heat, smoke, and confusion. Vedanta Ltd runs the plant, which has a capacity of 1,200 MW. It was doing normal work when the incident happened.

There was a lot of chaos inside the building, and workers ran out through thick smoke and heat. Vishnu Deo Sai, the chief minister, called the event "deeply tragic" and ordered a full and fair investigation, promising that those found responsible would face strict punishment. He told officials to make sure that the injured get the best care possible.

The CM said that the families of the dead would get 35 lakh and the injured would get ₹50,000 each.

Later that night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his condolences to the families of the dead and said that PMNRF would give Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each person who died and Rs 50,000 to each person who was hurt.

The chief minister has ordered an investigation by the Bilaspur divisional commissioner because the incident was so serious.

He made it clear that those who are found to be responsible for the accident will face harsh punishment.

There has also been a request for a magisterial investigation.

Vedanta management said in a statement that their first priority was to help people who were hurt and that they were working with the authorities to find out what caused the accident.

"It involved people from our sub-contractor, NGSL, which runs and takes care of the unit. "We are in the process of finding out the details and a full investigation has begun," it said. Officials hinted that the number of deaths could rise because some of the victims are in critical condition.