Balco Nagar (Chhattisgarh), Sep 24 (Inditop.com) Over a hundred rescuers struggled here Thursday to reach an estimated 50 people still trapped under the debris of a 100-metre chimney of the Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) plant that crashed a day earlier killing 20 people.
District authorities at Korba, about 250 km from Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, said the death toll could surge once the wreckage from the under-construction tower at the coal-fired power plant was cleared.
“The rescue operation is underway with a dozen cranes pressed into service but rescuers are working cautiously to clear debris so that survivors, if any, can be pulled out,” Ashok Agrawal, Korba district collector, told Inditop.
He said about 50 workers, most of them from Bihar and Jharkhand, could still be under the debris that is strewn over a large area.
A senior minister of Chhattisgarh government, Brijmohan Agrawal, who is here to supervise the rescue operation, refused to speculate on the number of people trapped but said dozens of workers were missing.
“A case against the Balco management has been registered and a judicial probe has been ordered to punish the guilty, but our total focus now is to rescue people trapped and retrieve bodies.”
“Dozens of workers hired by Gannon Dunkerley and Company Ltd (GDCL) for construction of 275-metre-high chimney for 1,200 MW coal-fired power plant and several others who were at the canteen and store rooms close to the crashed chimney are missing and are believed to be under the debris,” Agrawal told Inditop.
many people, including women, gathered at the crash site in Balco Nagar Thursday morning fearing the worst for their colleagues and they held the Balco management entirely responsible.
“It (the tower) came crashing like thunder. For a moment, I thought it’s the sound of thunder as it was raining heavily at the time. But I soon realised that it was the chimney that was coming down,” Dayaram, 28, a worker who was passing through the crash site when the tragedy struck at about 4 p.m. Wednesday, told Inditop at Balco hospital where he was recovering from his injuries.
“I was in a group of eight colleagues. We began running to avoid the crumbling structure. I can’t believe I am alive,” the contract worker from Bihar’s Vaishali district, who has fractured both his legs, said.
Korba district police chief Ratanlal Dangi said the chimney had reached the height of over 100 metres before it caved in amid lightning and heavy rain.
Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd, which holds 51 percent stake in Balco, is investing heavily to double the production capacity. Balco presently produces 345,000 tonnes aluminium per annum.
The other 49 percent stake in the company is held by the Indian government,
Officials say the under-construction thermal plant — two units of 600 MW each — is aimed at generating power to help Balco achieve its increased production target.
