A fire sparked by a conveyor belt at a coal-fired power plant in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu has killed four workers and seriously injured at least four others, news media reported on Tuesday.
The fire at the 3 x 63-MW IND Barath Thermal Power Plant in the southern Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu broke out at about noon on Tuesday and spread all along the belt where 10 employees had been working, transporting coal to the furnace of the power plant, the Times of India reported.
The plant is owned by Ind-Barath Power Infra Private Ltd., a company that has eight operational power plants with a combined capacity of 376 MW and four projects under implementation. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Citing "officials," Indian news agency PTI reported that the employees "jumped off" the conveyor belt after being unable to douse the fire but got trapped in machinery. PTI said five—not four—workers were seriously injured and have been hospitalized.
According to the New Indian Express, the four plant employees who lost their lives trying to douse the fire were ages 19, 22, 28, and 47. Those injured as they jumped off the floor were ages 21, 25, 31, 32, and 33.
Sources: POWERnews, Times of India, PTI, New Indian Express
—Sonal Patel, Senior Writer (@POWERmagazine)
