Balco mishap toll reaches 46

The rescue team continued to recover the bodies lying under the debris of Balco power plant chimney that collapsed on Wednesday at Korba, 220 km north-east of Raipur. HT Correspondent reports.

The rescue team continued to recover the bodies lying under the debris of Balco power plant chimney that collapsed on Wednesday at Korba, 220 km north-east of Raipur.

HT Image

With more bodies extricated from the site on Friday the current death toll had risen to 46. Nearly a dozen cranes continue to comb the debris in search of the bodies as police fear many are still trapped underneath.

A 100-member disaster management team of Central Industrial Security Forces reached Balco from Orissa to further assist in the rescue operation, said the Korba district collector Ashok Agrawal.

“We hope the rescue operation to continue till Saturday when the rubble of the crashed chimney will be cleared,” said the collector.

The Balco management announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh to each bereaved family. Gannon Dunkerley Company Limited was allotted for the construction of the 275-metre chimney for the power plant.