Indian police have blocked 89 employees of a Chinese company from leaving the country following a chimney collapse that killed 46 laborers in central India last week.

The Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation (SEPCO) was one of the firms contracted by India's state-owned Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) to build the electricity station in Chhattisgarh. In which a 275 meters high chimney project was subcontracted to India, Chinese companies Gannon Dunkerley Corporation.

The Chimney, had been bulit 100 meters collapsed last Wednesday duiring local lightning and thunder rang out. At that time, about 100 Indian workers are on site. After days, there were 46 corpse founded and the death roll is still rising.

The construction company employees and other workers fear that the local population vented their anger and violence, many of them escaped from the korba region in past few days.

Local airport authorities were told not to allow any Chinese workers to leave the Chhattisgarh state, and several Chinese who fled Korba have been kept in the town of Bilaspur, about 125 kilometers from Korba.

An anonymous official with the Chinese embassy in New Delhi confirmed yesterday the safety of engineers and site workers contracted for a power station project in Korba.

The official did not give the number of people involved, or their identities or locations.

Also Sunday, the Indian embassy in Beijing refused to confirm or deny the alleged police questioning of the Chinese nationals in connection with the chimney collapse.

India