Indian police said yesterday they were questioning Chinese engineers and site workers as part of investigations into how a power plant chimney collapsed, killing 41 people.
China’s Shandong Electric Power Construction was one of the firms contracted by Balco, a subsidiary of London-listed resources giant Vedanta, to build the electricity station in central Chattisgarh state.
“We are taking statements from the Chinese team on the chimney collapse,” senior police officer Ratanlal Dangi said by telephone.
Eighty Chinese nationals have been involved in the construction of the plant, he said.
“Some of them were preparing to leave the country. So we requested the state and central governments to ensure they do not leave before investigations are complete,” Dangi said, adding that no arrests had yet been made.
The 100m chimney caved in on Wednesday, killing scores of Indian laborers and leaving many injured.
“We have gone through almost 95 percent of the rubble,” Ashok Agarwal, a Chattisgarh state government official, said. “We will continue our efforts to ensure no one is buried.”
According to Dangi, bad weather has been ruled out as a cause of the accident and police have registered a case of culpable homicide against Balco.
“We are looking through their records, their tenders, what materials they were using to build the chimney, whether there were any design or implementation flaws,” he said.
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