Missing employee found alive after Russian power plant accident

A worker thought to have disappeared in a Russian hydroelectric plant accident that left at least 12 people dead and 62 others missing has been found alive, authorities said Wednesday.

The worker was discovered at home after returning from a fishing trip, said Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu, who was coordinating the rescue effort at the massive Sayano-Shushenskaya power plant in southern Siberia.

Monday's accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant located on the Yenisei River in East Siberia, which drowned or crushed to death at least 12 workers, shut down Russia's largest hydroelectric plant and left several towns and major factories without electricity. The plant provides 10 percent of Siberia's energy needs, according to Russian media reports.

The accident occurred when the third and fourth culverts were reportedly damaged, destroying walls and submerging the engine room.

Two workers were found alive Monday inside the flooded structure but hope was fading for those still missing, RusHydro acting chief Vasily Zubakin was quoted as saying.

Rescuers were using all available equipment to search for survivors. The clean-up work would be finished within one week, Shoigu said.

"We hope that everything will go well today when water start to be pumped out from the turbine hall," Shoigu said.

According to RusHydro, a faulty turbine at the plant that began operating in 1978 was likely to blame.

Shoigu, however, said that was merely one of several theories about why the accident occurred, Russian news agencies reported.

Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, who was also participating in the federal investigation into the accident, said restoring the turbine hall would cost at least 40 billion rubles (about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars).