An explosion at an Indian power plant Wednesday killed at least 10 workers and seriously burned dozens of others, with police warning the death toll could rise. Photo: AFP file

 

LUCKNOW: An explosion at an Indian power plant Wednesday killed at least 10 workers and seriously burned dozens of others, with police warning the death toll could rise.

The blast occurred at a coal-fired power plant in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, run by the government-owned National Thermal Power Corporation.

?Ten persons have died and around 40-50 persons are grievously injured. The death toll may rise,? said Anand Kumar, director-general of police in the state capital Lucknow.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.

The state operator said rescue operations were underway after the ?unfortunate accident in the boiler? at the coal plant in Rae Bareli district.

Television footage showed ambulances rushing to the scene.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath offered his condolences to the families of the dead and offered each compensation of 200,000 rupees ($3,096).

Workplace accidents are common in India, where poor safety standards and lax enforcement of regulations have led to horrific deaths.

India?s power distribution system is prone to accidents, mostly because of poor maintainance and underfunding in rural areas.

An electricity transformer exploded outside a wedding in the western state of Rajasthan Tuesday evening, killing at least 13 people including a pregnant woman.

Dozens of guests had assembled for the ceremony in Jaipur when the transformer blew up, spewing hot oil and metal shards.

Nearly 10,000 people died of electrocution in India in 2015, according to the most recent data available from the national crimes records bureau.