Fire hits electricity plant in south India, 9 feared trapped

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Rescuers in southern India were searching Friday for nine workers feared trapped in a fire that erupted in a government-run underground electricity plant, an official said.

Telangana state Power Minister Jagdish Reddy said 30 workers were at the plant in Srisailam when the blaze hit on Thursday night.

Fifteen exited through a tunnel and another six workers were taken out by rescue teams, he said.

Rescuers from the National Disaster Relief Force joined the search operation at the plant located at a river dam, nearly 220 kilometers (140 miles) south of Hyderabad, the state capital.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

In July, five workers were killed and 16 injured when a boiler exploded at a government-run electricity plant at Neyveli in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.