5 workers feared drowned as river water enters hydro power plant in Gujarat town

Lunawada (Gujarat), Sep 5 (PTI) Five workers were feared drowned after gushing water of a river entered the premises of a hydro power plant near Lunawada town in Gujarat's Mahisagar district, officials said on Friday.

Water from the Mahi river entered the plant premises on Thursday afternoon and 24 hours on, there was no trace of the five workers despite authorities immediately launching a multi-agency rescue operation, they said.

The incident took place at around 3pm when 15 workers entered into a large well of the hydro power plant at Dolatpura for maintenance, said district superintendent of police (SP) Safin Hasan.

"With discharge from the Kadana dam (built on Mahi river) on the upstream, water suddenly entered into the well when the workers were inside it for carrying out maintenance. While 10 workers managed to come out safely, five went missing," he informed.

A rescue operation was launched soon after the incident, but the workers are yet to be traced, said Hasan.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force, SDRF and fire brigade personnel from Vadodara and Mahisagar were engaged in the rescue operation, the SP said.

"We have called in an underwater search vehicle from Vadodara because the tank is deep and visibility is almost zero because of the presence of oil and grease in the water," said Hasan. PTI COR PJT RSY