Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- At least six people died after pipes feeding Russia’s largest hydroelectric plant ruptured, flooding the turbine room, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said.

The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya station in the Khakassia region of Siberia occurred at 4:42 a.m. Moscow time today, said Alina Kukueva, a ministry spokeswoman, by phone from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

The flooding was contained so the local population didn’t need to be evacuated, state television reported, citing local officials.

Sayano-Shushenskaya, on the Yenisei River, supplies several smelters operated by United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer. Rusal production in the area is “at normal levels” after receiving power from alternative sources, said Vera Kurochkina, a Rusal spokeswoman in Moscow, by e-mail.

Yevgeny Druzyaka, a spokesman for Sayano-Shushenskaya’s owner, state-run OAO RusHydro, couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Bierman in Moscow sbierman1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 17, 2009 01:22 EDT