GUWAHATI, Oct 21: The bodies of two out of the four employees, who went missing after the catastrophic water tunnel burst at the NEEPCO-run Kopili Hydel Project at Umrangso in Assam’s Dima Hasao district, were recovered by rescue workers today. The bodies have been identified as that of missing project junior engineer Robert Baite and Joy Sing Tisso.
The two bodies were recovered from the floor of the turbine.
Four employees — three working with NEEPCO and the fourth of a firm involved in repair work of the tunnel — had gone missing after the explosion at the water tunnel carrying water from the reservoir to the main plant. The burst led to a catastrophic-like situation with water inundating the pump house and flooding many areas of the plant site along with nearby localities.
Efforts are under way to locate the other two missing employees who are also feared dead.
NEEPCO and district administration officials incidentally had to wait for the water level to recede before operations to locate and rescue the missing enployees were taken up.
The burst in the water tunnel that carries water at 12000 litres/sec from the NEEPCO reservoir to the Kopili Hydro Power Project site on Oct 7 led to massive flooding and a water fountain that rose up to several hundred feet into the sky. The gushing water also submerged several office buildings besides damaging 90 per cent of the machineries of the project.
