Rescuers find 19 more bodies at Siberian hydropower plant

KHAKASIA. August 22. KAZINFORM Nineteen more bodies have been found at the disaster-hit Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant in south Siberia, bringing the official death toll to 47, emergencies officials said on Friday.

"The bodies of another 19 people and several fragments of bodies have been found at the scene," officials told RIA Novosti.

Twenty-eight people are still missing after early Monday's explosion at Russia's largest hydropower plant located on the Yenisei River.

Water is still being pumped out of the turbine hall, but the chances of finding anyone alive are very low.

Rescue workers said no one was supposed to be working at the lower levels of the station on the day when the accident occurred. They also suggested that some workers could have been swept into the river.

Monday's shutdown of the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant, built in 1978, has caused a severe energy shortfall in the region, forcing local factories to turn to temporary supplies. The accident destroyed three and badly damaged another two out of a total of 10 power-generating units at the plant.

The blast also released a large slick of fuel into the Yenisei River. The cause of the disaster is still to be determined, Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.

See www.en.rian.ru .