Hydro dam accident

Speaking at a government meeting in Moscow on Thursday, Putin said all "strategic and vitally important" installations in Russia needed greater supervision.

"The recent tragic events at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric plant showed with all clarity how much more we should do to increase reliability of technical constructions on the whole and hydrotechnical ones in particular," he said. "Technological discipline is very low."

The official death toll from the catastrophic flood that engulfed Russia's largest hydroelectric station in the country's Khakassia region rose to 17 on Thursday after search teams found another three bodies.

Russian officials said there was still some hope that some of the 58 people still missing after the Aug. 17 accident could be found in air pockets amid the flooded wreckage.

Some 100 workers were in the main turbine room early on Monday when a massive wave of water flooded in. Officials from the company that owns the hydroelectric dam, RusHydro, said many workers would have either drowned or been crushed.

The authorities have yet to give a clear explanation of how the accident occurred, with explanations ranging from a sudden pressure surge to a fault in one of the turbines. RusHydro said a faulty turbine at the plant, commissioned 30 years ago, was the likely cause of the accident.

Slim hopes

Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said around 2,000 rescue workers were working around the clock to clear rubble and drain water in an effort to locate potential survivors.

"My job is not to lose hope," Shoigu told government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, adding that the final toll would only be clear after two or three more days of searching.

"Don't ask about possible causes. Some people have rushed to express their own opinions. Completely pointless," Shoigu said. "The (investigative) commission has to work everything out.

"It's a unique disaster. Its nature is not comprehensible. Nothing like this has ever been seen in the world."

Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said steps needed to be taken to shore up power supply to industries affected by Monday's accident.

He said in a statement on Thursday that the government had to "take measures to resolve the consequences of the accident and to provide uninterrupted energy supply to industrial enterprises, social institutions and the population."

dfm/Reuters/AFP

Editor: Susan Houlton