Six persons were killed and 23 seriously injured in a boiler blast at NLC’s thermal power station at Neyveli.
The explosion occurred around 9.45 am, when workers were carrying out maintenance at the fifth unit of the thermal power station-II (TPS-II), which was under shut down; a fire broke out after the explosion in the boiler area.
NLC’s maintenance team comprising an executive, two supervisors, three non-executive employees, and 17 contract workers were injured during the accident, a statement of NLC India said. All the 17 injured were immediately rushed to the NLC hospital and 16 of them after initial treatment were sent to Apollo Hospitals in Chennai for further treatment. One person with minor injuries is being treated at the hospital in Neyveli.
Compensation announced
A high-level inquiry headed by PK Mohapatra, Retd Director (Technical), NTPC, has been ordered into the cause of the accident, apart from an internal inquiry committee with senior executives headed by Director (Power) of NLC India., said the company.
The Unit Head of TPS-II has been placed under suspension.
All four units of 210 MW each of TPS-II Stage-II have been ordered to be shut for immediate safety audit.
Offering his condolences, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami stated that State government officials were told to undertake relief measures quickly.
He has also announced a compensation of ₹3 lakh to the families of deceased, ₹1 lakh to the severely injured and ₹50,000 for other injured.
Second blast
Wednesday’s accident is the second boiler blast at the Neyveli plant in the past two months. In May, a blast in a boiler unit claimed five lives.
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