The death toll of the tragic accident that took place at Adani Power Limited (APL)'s Mundra Power plant on April 20 mounted to 7 even as the Sub-Divisional Magistrate and Police have initiated inquiry into the cause of the accident.

On Wednesday, the Kutch DIstrict Collector MS Patel visited the site, where these workmen had sustained burn injuries allegedly due to hot steam when hot water got splashed from the vent of a flash tank during start-up of a unit after a two-day shut-down. "During the start-up, some steam is normally allowed to vent," the company had said in its statement immediately after the incident, adding that the unit was shut down after the accident.

The accident seems to have caused adverse impact on the APL share price, which fell by over 9 per cent since April 20 to close at Rs 32.05 on Thursday. The benchmark Sensex was down only 0.18 per cent during the same period.

Altogether 21 workmen at APL's 4,600 Mw thermal power plant were injured in the accident. Eight of them with “nominal injuries” were provided first-aid at Mundra itself while 13 others having burns of up to 90 per cent were shifted to Ahmedabad for treatment at a private hospital. One of them was pronounced "brought dead". All of these workmen have non-Gujarati origins.

The Sub-divisional magistrate and police have been asked to prepare a report on the incident and submit the same to the government.

"The police has registered a case of accidental death and investigating the cause, while inquiry is also being done by State boiler inspector and inspector of Industrial Safety and Health," said a senior police official from Kutch police.

"During the Collector's visit, the company promised to bear the costs of hospitalisation and logistics of deadbodies through air. The company will provide compensation of around Rs 15-17 lakh to the families of each deceased," the police official said.

An emailed query sent to Adani Power about the same remained unanswered till time of publishing. Meanwhile, the company had also instituted a multi-disciplinary, cross-functional team of experts to investigate the incident. It is expected to submit report within 10 days.

According to Vastrapur Police officials in Ahmedabad, where the 12 injured were hospitalized, seven out of eight critically injured have died so far, one is still kept in Intensive Care Unit (ICU), while four others seemed out of danger and put in different wards.

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