A high-speed water pipeline of 100MW Khandong Power Project Distribution on Kopili river exploded at around 11.30am on Saturday after a sudden rise in water level due to heavy rain.
SILCHAR: Three persons died in Assam’s Dima Hasao district after a high-speed water pipeline of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation’s (NEEPCO)’s hydropower plant here exploded due to overflow of rainwater, officials said.
All the deceased persons were employees of NEEPCO and residents of Assam, according to the police.
According to the reports, a high-speed water pipeline of 100MW Khandong Power Project Distribution on Kopili river exploded at around 11.30am on Saturday after a sudden rise in water level due to heavy rain.
An official from NEEPCO said that the water level in the river increased due to heavy rain in Meghalaya. Some blockade caused by stone and broken trees caused the explosion in pipeline.
“Water flows at high speed from Meghalaya but sometimes large stones and broken trees cause blockade which creates big energy. In this case, the pipeline exploded due to some blockade and unfortunately three employees came under the flow. Their bodies were found more than two hours later,” the official said requesting anonymity.
The deceased employees were identified as Anupam Saikia (35), assistant engineer, Jayanta Hazarika (59), senior manager, and Demeraj Johari (30), a contractual labourer.
Superintendent of police of Dima Hasao (NC Hills) district, Jayant Singh said that the three employees died because some trees fell on them and they could not escape due to heavy flow of water.
“Due to rain in Meghalaya, there was a heavy flow of water towards Umrangso. A pipeline tunnel of Khandong Power Project Distribution exploded and these three employees lost their lives. We have recovered the bodies and those have been identified as well,” he said.
In a similar kind of blast in October 2019, four persons were killed and their bodies were recovered after nearly 18 days.
It has been raining heavily in the southern part of Assam and Meghalaya for the last two days and it disrupted rail service in Dima Hasao district on Saturday. Department of Northeastern Frontier Railways temporarily suspended some trains after the rail tracks were inundated.
