Sixteen people, including a sub-inspector and three members of the home guard, were electrocuted at the Namami Gange project's sewage treatment plant (STP) on the Alaknanda river in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.
Six seriously injured were airlifted to AIIMS Rishikesh of whom two are in critical condition. Five people have been admitted to a local government hospital in Gopeshwar, headquarters of Chamoli district, according to the state emergency operations centre. Chamoli chief medical officer Dr Rajeev Sharma said that in all, 27 people were affected. District magistrate Himanshu Khurana said that he has ordered a magisterial probe to ascertain the exact cause of the tragedy.
According to sources, Ganesh Lal who works as an operator at the STP, did not return home at night after his 10-hour shift. His family frantically searched for him all night and in the morning called the STP. A supervisor from another STP was sent to the site and the body was discovered in the morning.”
Jal Sansthan officials said that the instruments that were discovered from Lal's body were burned, pointing to an "electrical fault." After the news spread, almost the entire village had gathered there, threatening to not move the body till compensation was given. In the meantime, another major electrical fault happened.
Due to the second electrical fault, a surge of electricity is believed to have passed through a metal railing installed on the stairs in the premises of the plant, which electrocuted many of those present at the site. Among the dead were a sub-inspector, three home guard personnel and the rest were local people.