MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. One person injured in an accident at the Shagonarskaya Thermal Power Plant (TPP) in Russia’s Tuva Region in southern Siberia has died, a law enforcement official told TASS.

"According to the latest data, one person had died in the hospital," he said.

The Health Ministry said earlier that 23 people had suffered injuries in the accident.

A blast occurred at a thermal power plant in the town of Shagonar, Tuva Region, on the morning of March 6. According to the regional Emergencies Ministry, fire and heavy smoke were reported in a boiler room at the facility. The open blaze was put out. The local administration said that the accident had not damaged the facility’s boilers as the explosion had taken place at the fuel conveyor belt.

The Tuva regional prosecutor’s office has initiated a probe into the incident in Shagonar, which involved a boiler room fire. "Regional Prosecutor Sergey Dyabkin immediately went to the scene to establish the consequences of the accident and coordinate the activities of law enforcement agencies. <...> The criminal investigation launched under Article 293.2 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Negligence") is being monitored," the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.