Hyderabad: Rescue team have retrieved 3 more bodies in addition to six bodies which were recovered earlier who were trapped inside a hydroelectric plant in Telangana which had caught fire late last night.

They were missing after the fire at unit one of the under-tunnel powerhouse of the Srisailam hydroelectric plant.

Twenty people were on shift when the fire began around 10.30 PM on Thursday. While 11 people managed to flee, nine others, including a division engineer, four assistant engineers, two junior plant attendants and another two from Amara Raja Batteries were stuck inside.

CISF personnel have also joined the rescue missions which is being led by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Teams from Singareni who have experience in managing underground units are also present at the accident site.

“As soon as the fire started, they tried to trip the units but that couldn’t happen. So, we isolated the 400 KV input and all units were tripped,” Telangana Transco CMD D. Prabhakar Rao said.

“The project unit operates at several levels. Those in the control room are said to have succeeded in come out. Others at lower levels could not come out due to the smoke. The current being switched off also obstructed rescue and escaping efforts,” said one official.

Energy minister Jagadish Reddy, minister Niranjan Reddy, CMD Prabhakar Rao, who reached the accident site at the night, are overseeing rescue efforts.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has ordered a CID probe into the accident.

Video-Fire in Srisailam Hydel Power Plant

for earlier report visit..

Fire in Srisailam Hydel Power Plant, 6 Dead, Search in process for More