15 engineers injured at a blast in KPCL in Yelahanka, Bengaluru

The Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) plant in Yelahanka was hit by a blast in the early hours of Friday which has injured and caused burn injuries to 15 on-site electrical engineers. As per the information given by the locals from Puttenahalli, the blast occurred at 3:00 am and a series of ambulances were strolling to provide relief to the injured engineers.

The police officials from Yelahanka have termed the blast as ‘gas leak’ though the KPCL officials confirmed the blast post the gas leakage from one of the turbines. One of the senior officials of KPCL stated, “It was an unfortunate incident and we would term it rather a freak accident. Despite putting in place all safety measures, the incident happened at the site while testing the gas turbine before its actual commissioning.”

Regarding the burn injuries caused to the Executive Engineers and the Assistant Executive Engineers, the official mentioned, “While 15 personnel including engineers are diagnosed with 10 to 15 per cent burn injuries, one AEE is critical with more than 50 per cent burn injuries. All the injured have been rushed to various private hospitals in different parts of the city and undergoing treatment.”

An engineer from KPCL gave further information about the blast, “In less than 10 minutes, the fire control system was activated by default and it put out the fire. Otherwise, it would have been a major fire.”

The KPCL was directed to be shut down by the court orders due to intense pollution. Thereby, it was switched base to be a gas -based power plant.