Balco Nagar (Chhattisgarh), Sep 24 - Over 100 rescuers struggled throughout Thursday to save dozens of people suspected to be still trapped under the debris of a 100-metre chimney of the Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) plant here that crashed Wednesday. At least 22 bodies have been recovered, and the workers are now demanding a CBI probe into the crash.

District authorities at Korba, about 250 km from Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, said the deaths in the accident could surge once the wreckage of the under-construction 100-metre tower at the coal-fired power plant was cleared. The process might take at least another day or two.

'The rescue operation is under way with a dozen cranes pressed into clearance work, and rescuers are working cautiously to clear debris so that survivors, if any, can be pulled out,' Korba district collector Ashok Agrawal told IANS.

He said about 50 workers, most of them from Bihar and Jharkhand, could still be under the debris that is strewn over a large area.

Chief Minister Raman Singh made on the spot assessment of the rescue operation while workers shouted slogans against the Balco management and sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident.

Singh refused to speculate on the number of people trapped.

'I have already ordered a judicial probe that will comprehensively investigate the chimney crash issue,' Singh told reporters near the site.

Pointing towards the workers, he said, 'I can assure you strict action will be taken against those found responsible for overlooking safety aspects.'

'My total focus now is to reach survivors and retrieve bodies. There's no doubt it's a major mishap,' Singh stated.

Dozens of workers hired by Gannon Dunkerley and Company Ltd (GDCL) for construction of the 275-metre chimney for the 1,200 MW coal-fired power plant and several others who were at the canteen and store rooms close to the crashed chimney are missing and are believed to be under the debris, senior Minister Brijmohan Agrawal, told IANS.