Nine killed in major fire in Telangana's Srisailam hydel power plant

President Ram Nath Kovind said he was pained by the loss of lives in the tragic incident

A major fire in the Srisailam hydroelectric plant located on the Telangana-Andhra Pradesh border left nine people dead, most of them engineers, and three seriously injured, with thick smoke hampering rescue operations for over 12 hours,officials said on Friday. A woman was among the dead.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the incident. President Ram Nath Kovind said he was pained by the loss of lives.

Telangana Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy said the fire broke out late on Thursday night when 17 people were inside the plant, run by the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation (genco).

Eight of the employees managed