Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) cited Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa as saying that three Chinese and 10 Ecuadorans died in the accident which took place on Saturday.
Agence France-Presse cited the project lead control technician Dennis Salgado as saying: "We re evaluating what has happened. Its a problem were having in the pressurized piping."
The National Risk Management Ministry said that a collapse in a tunnel, which affected the high-pressure pipes inside the engine room, has led to the accident, reports Xinhua.
The 1,500MW run-of-river project is currently under construction by Coca Codo Sinclair EP (Cocasinclair EP) in the Amazon Basin, 100km east of Ecuador’s capital Quito between the provinces of Napo and Sucumbíos.
Scheduled to be completed by late-2015, the project is expected to produce an average of 8.63GWh per annum, supplying about 44% of the country’s electricity needs.
