ABAKAN, August 18 (RIA Novosti) - The death toll following an accident at Russia's largest hydropower plant has risen to 12 people, with 64 still unaccounted for, the emergencies minister said on Tuesday.
"The fate of 64 people is still unknown," Sergei Shoigu told reporters at the south Siberian Sayano-Shushenskaya power station, where he is coordinating rescue and clean-up work. Some 1,200 rescuers are working at the scene.
Emergencies officials said 15 people were also injured early on Monday when two water ducts collapsed at the plant, flooding a turbine hall. A fuel tank also ruptured, causing a large slick in the Yenisei River.
The accident was most likely due to a faulty turbine, according to a former general director of the station, built in 1978.
Alexander Toloshinov, now a top manager at the station's owner, RusHydro, said that according to information from the data recorders, a turbine cover had been torn off. "This may have happened due to a manufacturing defect," he said.
Russia's top prosecutors ruled out earlier on Tuesday the possibility of a terrorist attack as a cause of the tragedy.
"Experts have not found any traces of explosives at the scene," the prosecutors' Investigation Committee said in a statement.
Toloshinov also said pumping water out of the plant was crucial as survivors could still be found in "air bubbles" inside the flooded facilities.
The emergencies minister said the flooding has now been stopped.
He said divers are continuing their search for bodies, and that various equipment would be used to monitor the river surface and check the damaged facilities. Emergency workers are also trying to deal with the fuel spill in the river resulting from the accident. The slick is currently spread over 25 square kilometers (10 square miles).
Psychologists and medics are working with the victims' families, a local hospital official said.
Four people earlier reported missing were found late on Monday. One was discovered in a state of shock in the station's underground chamber, one was retrieved from the water, and two others were found at their homes.
Shoigu urged local residents not to panic. Commenting on reports that locals were buying up gasoline at filling stations on Monday, he promised uninterrupted fuel and electricity supplies to the region.
The accident has cut power supplies to homes and companies, including metal giants Evraz Group and RusAl. Six factories in the nearby Altai region have reportedly shut down due to the electricity shortfalls.
The energy ministry, however, said late on Monday that power supplies disrupted in five Siberian regions, including at aluminum plants, had been restored using supplies from thermal power stations in Siberia and the European part of Russia.
RusHydro said on Tuesday it could restart one or two generating units before the end of this year.
Analysts warned on Monday that electricity prices could rise by 20%-30% for industries in the region following the disaster, which forced nearby thermal power stations to increase output to compensate for the Sayano-Shushenskaya station's closure.
The energy ministry pledged measures to prevent unjustified price hikes.
President Dmitry Medvedev expressed condolences to the victims' families on Monday, a day which also saw a suicide bomber attack a police station in south Russia's Ingushetia, killing at least 20.
