At around 5 p.m. today, an explosion occurred in the coal conveyor system of the 330MW Unit 1 of the Engro Powergen Thar (Private) Limited (EPTL) power plant.
Immediately, all safety and emergency response teams were activated at the time. Due to the incident, five people were affected directly who are currently stable and are being provided with necessary medical aid.
A company statement read: “The company confirms around 5 pm today in the evening there was a malfunction in the coal conveyor causing a minor blast at the EPTL plant. Currently, we are investigating the cause of the malfunction and our immediate concern is to ensure the safety of our people and more information will be provided to the stakeholders in due time”.
The explosion, according to initial accounts, occurred in the conveyor belt systems that deliver coal into the power plant. It’s worth noting that the power plant was undergoing a scheduled outage, with one of the units already shut down for repair and the other operational. For safety reasons, the company will be shutting down the operational unit as well whilst investigations into the incident are underway.
The Ministry of Energy has yet to submit an official response on the matter.
Source: Pro Pakistani