9 workers injured in explosion at S African power station

Johannesburg, Dec 14 (PTI): Nine workers were injured, one of them critically, in an explosion at the Matla Power Station owned by the South African parastatal national electricity distributor Eskom, the company has sai.

9 workers injured in explosion at S African power station

Johannesburg, Dec 14 (PTI): Nine workers were injured, one of them critically, in an explosion at the Matla Power Station owned by the South African parastatal national electricity distributor Eskom, the company has said.

"Preliminary investigations indicate the rupture of a high-pressure steam steel pipe above the Unit 6 transformer caused (Thursday evening's) incident. The incident resulted in a loud bang and a loss of power supply to the Unit 6 area," Eskom said in a statement on Friday.

It said that significant amounts of dust, combined with the loss of power, prevented a fuller assessment until the first light on Friday.

Technical teams remain on-site, assessing the extent of the damage, the scope of work, and the time required for repairs and restoration. At this stage, there is no evidence of sabotage, Eskom added.

"The Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, joined by members of Eskom's Executive Committee and Board, visited Matla Power Station this afternoon to offer support and assistance to the Matla Power Station leadership team and employees, including visiting the injured employees later in the day.

"As a result of the steam leak from the damaged pipe, nine employees sustained burn injuries. One is in critical condition, and two are in semi-critical condition, but all remain stable. Six employees received less serious injuries, with two already discharged from the hospital. Additionally, eight members of the work team were uninjured and sent home," Eskom said.

But the incident would not affect the suspension of load shedding which led to widespread blackouts across the country in recent years until it was suspended just over six months ago, said Eskom Group Executive for Generation, Bheki Nxumalo.

"Matla is one of the six power stations we prioritised in the Generation Recovery Plan to end load shedding and over the past 18 months, the employees have delivered an exceptional performance, achieving an Energy Availability Factor (EAF) of 67.12 per cent.

"Based on the structural improvements in the generation performance of the coal-fired fleet, week by week Eskom is increasingly able to absorb shocks to the system, even though the generation capacity remains tight," Marokane added. PTI FH IJT IJT

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)