Two dead, several missing after ash leak from power plant in MP

Two bodies have been retrieved, while several others are feared trapped under the debris, after toxic ash slurry flowed out following a breach in an ash dam of a Reliance power plant in Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli district.

Singrauli (Madhya Pradesh):At least two bodies were fished out, while several others are missing after a part of the storage pond of a private coal power plant developed a breach in Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli district on Friday.

According to reports, the breach in the dam occurred on Friday evening at a coal power plant run by Reliance, following which the ash slurry flowed out and spread across nearby areas.

District Collector KVS Chaudhary informed that five people, who were residing in a house nearby, were swept away by the slurry, and efforts are on to rescue them.

At least six people washed away in the sludge, he said, adding that the bodies of Abhishek Kumar Shah (8) and Dinesh Kumar (35) have been recovered. This is the third such incident within the past year in Singrauli.

When asked about the cause behind the incident, the collector said, "It is sheer negligence on the part of Reliance Power, which owns the plant".

When asked about the action the administration is proposing to initiate, the collector said, "Our priority right now was to search for the four missing people. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the breach," Choudary said.

Following the incident, former MP chief minister Kamal Nath demanded that the state government provide compensation to the farmers who suffered due to the breach.

"The nearby villages and a large number of farmers have been affected by the collapse of an ash dam of Reliance Power Plant in Singrauli district. Their crops are destroyed and the debris has entered their houses," he tweeted in Hindi.

Meanwhile, Sasan Power Limited said, "We are deeply anguished by the incident involving the break in the ash dump yard wall at our Sasan Power Plant.

"The break-in ash dump yard wall pushed the water leading to break in the boundary wall affecting some thatched houses and minor land parcel. We are investigating the reasons underlying the incident," it said.

It further said that power plant operations continue as the relief and restoration work is not affected by the same.

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