At least two workers were killed and five injured on Sunday in an explosion at a State-run upcoming hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district. One of the dead was from Kerala and the other from Nepal.
The blast occurred in the morning when an engineer was inspecting the dynamite installed to carry out a blast in the 450 MW Shongtong-Karcham project, said Superintendent of Police Rahul Nath. The project, some 300 km from the State capital, is being commissioned by Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation limited (HPPCl). A case was registered.
This is the second accident in the hydropower project in the State in less than a fortnight. Three people were killed at 100-MW Sorang power project, owned by Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA), in Kinnaur district when an inlet valve - controlling water supply to the turbine - burst on November 18.
In June, three engineers were killed while fixing a new turbine at the 2 MW Rongtong hydroelectric plant near Kaza town in lahaul-Spiti district.
