The Bakreswar thermal power plant. File picture

Suri, Sept. 13: A transformer exploded at the state-run Bakreswar thermal power plant today, injuring four engineers and two technicians. Five of them are battling severe burns and one is critical.

Another technician, Nishikanta Bairagya, 32, fell ill after inhaling the smoke following the explosion.

“The seven, four engineers and three technicians, were recommissioning the plant’s fifth unit, which had been shut down recently for repairs. Suddenly, there was a flash at the circuit breaker of one of the unit auxiliary transformers and an explosion,” said an official of the West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL), which runs the plant.

Doctors at the plant rushed to the accident spot and treated the injured. Then they were taken to a private hospital in Durgapur.

Partha Pal, the medical superintendent of Mission Hospital, said Dipak Lohar, 40, a technician, had suffered 90 per cent burns.

Of the four engineers, Subhrajit Bhattacharya, 28, suffered 30 per cent burns, 30-year-old Sandipan Basu had 20 per cent burns and 34-year-old Arindam Samanta had 40 per cent burns, Pal said. Another engineer, Sanjib Banerjee, 37, who suffered 9 per cent burns, was released this evening after treatment.

Technician Sachindra Haldar, 32, suffered 45 per cent burns.

“Five of the injured persons have been kept under observation at the intensive care unit for patients with burns,” a hospital official said. Bairagya has been shifted to the general ward.

WBPDCL managing director Krishna Gupta said: “I have asked my officials to pinpoint the cause behind the incident and submit a report.”

A team of WBPDCL officials and National Thermal Power Corporation experts has gone to the plant to investigate the cause of the explosion.

The Bakreswar plant officials, however, have not lodged a complaint yet, Birbhum superintendent of police Humayun Kabir said.

Power department officials said the auxiliary transformer’s function is to reduce the voltage from 6,600 units so that the electricity can be used to operate pumps and the motors of various machines at the plant.

An official said massive short circuits can happen while opening switch gear boxes when dead rats and lizards drop from them on a set of cables.