At least 15 Indian workers trapped after tunnel blast kills 10 (updated)

NHPC

21/07/2026 09:36

Updates death toll, adds company comment; paragraphs 2,4
By Tora Agarwala
GUWAHATI, India, July 21 (Reuters) - Fifteen Indian workers were feared trapped on Tuesday after a blast caused by a suspected gas leak in a tunnel at a hydroelectric project in the rugged state of Sikkim killed ten, authorities said. 
Monday's incident took place at state-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corp Ltd's NHPC.NS project on the Teesta river in the northeastern state's village of Samardung, district official Subash Ghimirey told Reuters.
A sudden burst of gas suspected to be methane trapped or embedded in rocks in the tunnel caused an explosion that sent out dense fumes and toxic gas, NHPC said in a statement. 
Survival chances for the trapped workers were slim, state disaster management official Rajiv Roka said, as rescuers had to battle the fumes, making their task difficult.
At least 25 project workers and officials were trapped in the tunnel, NHPC said, a tally that includes the 10 bodies retrieved. 
Photographs on the state government's Facebook page showed rescuers wearing orange hazard suits unloading oxygen cylinders, ropes and other emergency equipment from a vehicle.

 (Reporting by Tora Agarwala in Guwahati; Additional reporting by Sethuraman N R; Writing by Shanima Aniyeri; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
 ((shanima.a@thomsonreuters.com;))