GILGIT BALTISTAN: At least four people were killed and eight others seriously injured in an explosion at the Diamer Bhasha dam construction site in Gilgit Baltistan (G-B)
According to sources, the explosive material, used in construction activities, blew up while work was ongoing.
According to reports, the injured and bodies were shifted to a nearby hospital.
A day earlier, the government approved the Diamer Basha power generation project at a cost of over Rs1.2 trillion, showing an increase of Rs302 billion against the original price mainly due to rupee devaluation.
The main objective of the project is to generate 4,500MWs of hydropower as part of the Diamer Basha Dam project. The dam component of the project is already under implementation.
The Cabinet Committee on Energy had split the construction into two phases; the dam and power generation facilities.
Earlier this week, a fire ripped through the camp of a Chinese company managing the construction of a remote hydropower dam in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The police said that the pre-dawn blaze ruined a warehouse complex for the Dasu hydropower project in the Kohistan district.
“It was a huge fire,” a Rescue 1122 official at the site told AFP. “Initially, the flames were very high and we had to call for fire brigade vehicles from two other districts.”
“It was quite a big storehouse, and apart from oil drums, stationery and machinery were also stockpiled there. That’s all been destroyed in the fire,” he added.
The camp housed Chinese engineers, surveyors and mechanics, but both police and Rescue 1122 said none were injured or killed.
One police official said an electrical fault was the suspected cause of the fire.
