August 21, 2020: Rescuers on Friday retrieved six bodies from a hydroelectric plant in Telangana’s Srisailam where nine people were feared trapped after a fire late on Thursday.

Of six bodies recovered, three were identified assistant engineers -- Sundar Naik, Mohan Kumar and Fathima. Officials said rescuers are still looking for the three other employees trapped inside the Srisailam Left Bank Power Station (SLBP) run by Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (TSGenco).

CISF personnel have also joined the rescue operations which are being led by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Teams from Singareni with experience in handling underground units are also present at the accident site.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has ordered a CID probe into the accident. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has ordered the officials to extend all possible help to Telangana counterparts for the rescue operations. Mr Reddy has also cancelled his visit to Srisailam which was scheduled for today in the wake of the accident.

Twenty people were on shift when the fire started around 10.30 PM on Thursday. While 11 people managed to escape, nine others, including a division engineer, four assistant engineers, two junior plant attendants and two others from Amara Raja Batteries were trapped inside.

"As soon as the fire started, they tried to trip the units but that couldn't happen. So we isolated the 400 KV input and all units were tripped," Telangana Transco CMD D. Prabhakar Rao said.

Initial reports indicate that a short circuit led to the fire and thick smoke engulfing the spot.