Five engineers and two technicians of a private batteries firm were trapped in a major fire that engulfed one of the units of the hydel power station of the Srisailam project, which is on Telangana side of the border.
The rescue operations were under way for the past seven hours to save the seven persons, including two women, who were stuck deep inside the multi-floor power house on the left canal which goes to Telangana. The right canal meets the irrigation requirements of Andhra Pradesh.
A thick smoke which caused zero visibility obstructed fire fighting, according to Telangana Energy Minister G. Jagdish Reddy.
Mr. Reddy told The Hindu that the engineers belonged to the Telangana State Generation Corporation, and were working on servicing of batteries in the panels. Ten employees who had access to an exit from upper floors escaped through a tunnel with burn injuries. They were admitted to the power utility's hospital.
He added that fire personnel managed to gain entry into the shallow unit after three aborted attempts. Power generation was shut down after the incident.
The fire has now been brought down by about 50 metres with fire tenders gaining entry inside and fogging the unit with water.
The power station is towards Domalapenta village of Amrabad mandal in Nagarkurnool district. Those trapped inside are Deputy Engineer Srinivas Goud and Assistant Engineers Surendar, Mohan Kumar, Sushma and Fatima and two technicians of Amara Raja Batteries, Venkat Rao and Ettem Rambabu.
The Minster was camping at Nagarjunasagar overnight to open the crest gates of the project in the morning in view of heavy inflows caused by rains. The generation at the power house commenced a month ago when Srisailam, which is on the upper reaches of Nagarjunasagar on river Krishna, started flooding.