An explosion at a coal-fired power plant in India has killed as many as 18 people and injured about 100, according to news reports. The blast, which occurred November 1 at the Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Station, was apparently caused when a boiler pipe burst in a 500-MW generating unit that came online in March of this year.

Police confirmed the total number of dead and said they expect the death toll and number of injured may rise because other people were trapped in the plant, which has been shut down. The plant employs 870 workers.

NTPC, the plant’s operator and India’s largest power utility, said in a statement: “There was sudden abnormal sound at 20 mt. elevation and there was an opening … from which hot flue gases and steam escaped affecting the people working around the area.” The NTPC statement also said “an unfortunate accident in the boiler of 500MW under trial unit of NTPC – Unchahar occurred this afternoon.…

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