Hydro hopes fade
August 19, 2009
As divers scour icy waters near the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant in south-eastern Siberia, rescuers insist they have not given up hope for 62 workers still missing.
The official death toll rose to 13 on Wednesday, after another body was found. However RusHydro, the owner of Russia's largest hydroelectric plant, says there is little chance that any of the workers missing after the accident would be found alive.
Some 100 workers were in the main turbine room early on Monday when a massive wave of water flooded in. Officials from the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric dam said the workers were drowned or crushed.
The authorities have yet to give a clear explanation of how the accident in Russia's biggest hydroelectric plant happened, with explanations ranging from a sudden pressure surge to a fault with one of the turbines. RusHydro says a faulty turbine at the plant, commissioned 30 years ago, is the likely cause of the accident.
Terrorism ruled out
Investigators have ruled out terrorism as a cause of the accident but a criminal inquiry has been opened into whether the plant owners neglected safety rules.
The accident shut the power plant down and left several towns and major factories without electricity. Supplies from other power plants were being rerouted to help cover the shortfall.
Questions are mounting over why it took authorities more than 48 hours to release news of the disaster in the dam's turbine hall.
Wednesday was an official day of mourning in the local region of Khakassia, where the massive dam spans the Yenisei River.
Fatal accidents are frequent at ageing power plants across the former Soviet Union, but the scale of the Sayano-Shushenskaya disaster and the disruption to power supplies, set this accident apart.
ch/dpa/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Susan Houlton