A fire erupted in Sri Lanka's coal power plant in Norochcholai in the North Western Province early this morning, forced the authorities to shut down the plant temporarily.

The Power and Energy Ministry officials said the closure was a precautionary measure to prevent any damages to the plant and the power supply will be restored soon. There were no major damages to the plant.

The fire has broken out in one of the coal crushing machines at the 300 megawatt Lakwijaya power plant.

Fires broke out in October 2010 and in August 2011 as well in the premises of the island's first coal power plant.

The plant was shut down for 10 days in September for a performance test and the other routine service needs.

(Sourced from www.colombopage.com)