At 08:13 local time (00:13 GMT) on 17 August 2009, the station suffered a
catastrophic "pressure surge" in turbine known as a water hammer. The
sudden water pressure surge resulted in the ejection of turbine 2 with all
equipment, a total weight some 900 tons, from its seat.
Turbines 7 and 9 also suffered from severe damage, while the turbine room
roof fell on and damaged turbines 3, 4 and 5. Turbine 6, which was in
scheduled repair at the time of accident, received only minor damage as it
was the only one of the station's 10 turbines that did not receive electrical
damage due to shorting of transformers, and it will be restarted as soon as
possible.
Water immediately flooded the engine and turbine rooms and caused a
transformer explosion.
On 23 August 2009, authorities said 69 people were found dead while 6
people are still listed as missing. Efforts to pump flood water from the
engine room and complete a search for the missing workmen are expected
to take 3 to 8 days.