All nine people who were trapped inside the Srisailam hydroelectric plant after a massive fire broke out on Friday morning have died, news agency ANI reported. Bodies of two assistant engineers who worked at the plant have been recovered so far.

Nagarkurnool District Collector L Sharma said the body of Assistant Engineer Sunder Nayak, hailing from Suryapet, has been recovered and been sent for post-mortem.

Police identified the other body as that of assistant engineer Mohan Kumar.

CISF personnel have also joined the rescue operations and added that five fire engines are engaged in the operation.

The Srisailam hydroelectric plant is located
underground on the Telangana-Andra Pradesh border.

While Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was
monitoring the rescue work through his cabinet colleague, Union Minister of
State for Home, Kishan Reddy, said he has asked NDRF to join the rescue
efforts.

“Our main target is to rescue them…we are not able to
contact them because they are not carrying mobile phones and there is no mobile
network,” said an official.

Quoting preliminary information, he said a short- circuit is
suspected to have caused the fire.

According to B Suresh, Chief Engineer of Telangana State Power
Generation Corporation (GENCO), there were nearly 25 people at the powerhouse
when the mishap took place.

However, about 15 or 16 managed to come out.

A police official said six persons have been admitted to local
hospitals for treatment for suffocation.

Built on river Krishna, the Srisailam Left Bank power station,
about 200 km from Hyderabad, is operated by the Telangana State Power
Generation Corporation (GENCO).

The plant has six units with combined capacity of 900 MW
(6X150). The power generation was in full swing following the incessant rains
during the past few days.

Power generation has been suspended following the fire mishap.

“There are three emergency exits in the pant. There is a
possibility that they (trapped) can come out through them. But we cannot say
until the smoke is cleared and the rescue teams can go inside,” Suresh
said.

The plant is located in a one km long tunnel and the fire is
suspected to have broke out at the service bay area in the Main Control Room, a
Fire Department official said.

“We were not able to reach the site as dense smoke engulfed
the area. As of now we are trying to put off small patches of fire here and
there at the transformer area,” the official said.

Telangana Energy minister Jagadish Reddy said personnel from
Police, Fire and Emergency services department are involved in the rescue
operations.

Officials of the Singareni collieries have also been contacted
for their help since they have expertise in underground rescue operations, he
added.

Chief Minister Rao expressed shock over the accident.