Four men were killed and another seriously injured in a blasting accident in the tunnel of the Nyera Amachu Hydropower Project in Martshala Gewog in Samdrup Jongkhar. The accident happened yesterday morning.
The deceased as well as the injured are workers of the Construction Development Corporation Limited (CDCL).
CDCL is executing the construction of the Nyera Amachu Hydropower Project.
The deceased were in their 20s and 30s. They and the injured worker were in tunnel clearing debris from a blasting carried out Thursday evening when the explosion occurred.
It is not clear what caused the explosion. Initial reports suggested it could have been an accidental detonation of an explosive, but officials are now saying it’s not the case.
They say explosives cannot cause a damage of this scale. Also, the victims have sustained burn injuries and explosives do not cause burn injuries. Officials think it could have been a gas explosion.
Investigations are being carried out to ascertain the cause.
The bodies of the men were recovered around 5 this evening and handed over to the family members.
The recovery works couldn’t be carried out immediately because the blast has damaged the air filter, cutting off oxygen supply to the tunnel.
Of the four dead, two were from Zhemgang and the other two from Samdrup Jongkhar.
Meanwhile, the injured worker is being treated at a hospital in Guwahati in India. The doctors in Samdrup Jongkhar referred him to Monggar Regional Referral Hospital but because of the road block in Narphung, he was taken to Guwahati instead.
This is the second such accident reported at the Nyera Amachu Hydropower Project.
In August last year, three workers of CDCL were injured in an explosion at the project site in Gomdar Gewog. The workers were drilling a rock for blasting when the explosion occurred.
That explosion, CDCL officials, said could have been caused by leftover explosives.
