An explosion occurred today around 5 p.m. in the coal conveyor system of the 330MW Unit 1 of the Engro Powergen Thar (Private) Limited (EPTL) power plant.
At the time, all safety and emergency response teams were activated. Five people were directly affected by the incident, and they are now stable and receiving necessary medical care.
A company statement read: “The Company confirms around 5 pm today in the evening there was a malfunction in the coal conveyor causing a minor blast at the EPTL plant.
Currently, we are investigating the cause of the malfunction and our immediate concern is to ensure the safety of our people and more information will be provided to the stakeholders in due time”.
According to initial reports, the explosion occurred in the conveyor belt systems that deliver coal to the power plant. It should be noted that the power plant was on a scheduled outage, with one of the units already shut down for repair and the other operational.
While the investigation into the incident is ongoing, the company will also shut down the operational unit for safety reasons.
The Ministry of Energy has yet to issue an official response.
To read our blog on “Thar has been discovered with 3 billion tons of coal,” click here.