32 dead in Unchahar blast, enquiry report in a month: NTPC

New Delhi: Death toll in NTPC's Unchahar plant accident has climbed to 32 making it the country's worst industrial disaster in eight years, while the company on Friday said that an enquiry panel would complete investigations into the mishap within a month.

The accident is the worst since the 2009 collapse of a power-plant chimney under construction at Bharat Aluminium Co. s Korba project killing 45 people.

The NTPC Management had set up an enquiry to investigate the reasons for the accident on November 1, when a boiler at 500 MW Unit-6 blasted and caused injuries to around 80 people.

"Around 80 people were affected due to this accident. 32 succumbed to injuries, and 48 are under treatment," NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Gurdeep Singh told reporters here.

As many as 12 seriously injured persons, including two with over 80 per cent burns, were airlifted and admitted to Safdarjung and Apollo hospitals in Delhi, he said, adding that all possible measures are being taken to provide immediate relief to the families of the affected people in close coordination with the district administration.

Asked about the prima facie reasons for the blast, Singh said: "Enquiry will reveal whether it was human error, violation of safety norm or others. If I will tell you the reason, then it would impose my view on the committee which will give its report in one month."

The panel is being headed by an NPTC Executive Director SK Roy and has two general managers in it.

Terming the boiler plant blast as "the rarest kind of incident", Singh said that people maintaining the unit were the most experienced.

Asked when can NTPC make the Unit-6 operational again, he said that it would take nearly 3-6 months to put the unit back on track.