Six injured in chimney collapse (Lead, superseding earlier story)

LUCKNOW - At least six people were injured, including two grievously, when a 540 feet-tall chimney of a 500 MW thermal power station collapsed in Jhansi district in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region Monday.

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation chairman Navneet Sehgal said that six people were injured, two of them seriously in the chimney collapse, and two people were missing.

Sehgal, before air-dashing to the site in Paricha town, had earlier said that three bodies had been retrieved and the toll was four. However, he later said there were no deaths so far.

He said army cranes were being used in the rescue operation.

Giving details of the tragedy, he said it was lunch time when the chimney collapsed. “It will take around 48 hours to clear the debris.”

“Construction of the chimney had been completed recently as one of the two 250 MW units was to be commissioned by the first week of June.”

Sehgal said: “The accident has not affected the working of the two old power generating units of 210 MW each in Paricha.”

The chimney for the new unit in the state-owned plant was built by National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), the official said.