Six missing IOC staff feared dead in Jaipur fire

Jaipur/New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) The toll in the fire at
Indian Oil Corp's fuel depot outside the Pink City may rise to
nine as six missing employees are now feared dead, even as
fire fighters and the Army worked to contain the blaze that
has burnt about Rs 150 crore worth of auto fuel.
"Three civilians are confirmed dead and one is seriously
injured. Six of our staff - three officers and three blue
collared employees, are missing," IOC Chairman Sarthak
Behuria, who visited the accident site Friday morning, said.
Five civilians were seriously injured while 40 others
sustained minor injuries. The injured were admitted to various
hospitals in the city and are undergoing medical treatment.
There were nine IOC employees and one Bharat Petroleum
Corp Ltd (BPCL) employee at the tank farm that had a capacity
to store 1,00,000 kilolitres of petrol, diesel and kerosene in
13 tanks when the fire broke out at 1930 hrs yesterday.
About 50,000 kl of fuel, mostly diesel, caught fire due
to a pipeline leak at one of the tanks that stored petrol
after the daily routine of loading products in tank trucks
ended. Three IOC staffers and the lone BPCL employee managed
to escape while six were trapped and are now feared dead.
"The fire continues to rage in 4-5 tanks where the
product is being allowed to burn under controlled conditions
so that the intesity of the fire and the damage that it is
likely to cause is minimised," Behuria said.
"We estimate that the stock will burn out by this evening
and firefighters would be able to enter the site by early
tomorrow morning," Behuria said.
India Oil Minister Murli Deora, who flew to Jaipur early
Friday, said that IOC will give ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the
kin of those killed, Rs 2 lakh to the seriously injured and Rs
1 lakh to those with minor injuries. "This is besides the
compensation announced by the Rajasthan government," he said.
Deora ordered an inquiry into the accident by a 5-member
committee headed by M B Lal, former Chairman and Managing
Director, HPCL. The committee, which also has Executive
Director of Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD) as member
secretary, will submit its report in six weeks.
The terminal supplied petrolem products to Jaipur city
and adjacent markets in Rajasthan. IOC has made arrangements
to maintain normal supplies of petroleum products in the areas
fed by the affected depot from its nearest bulk storage points
in Ajmer and Bharatpur and through HPCL's terminal at Bangur.
"About Rs 140-150 crore worth of fuel was stocked at the
depot at the time of fire," IOC Director (Planning and
Business Development) B M Bansal said, adding that the product
was covered by insurance from ICICI Lombard.
Black clouds of smoke continue to billow and could be
seen from a distance of 10 km on the Jaipur-Tonk highway.
Bansal said the Jaipur terminal is an automated terminal
and equiped with state-of-the-art safety and fire-fighting
gadgets. "However, the magnitude of the fire was too huge to
be controlled with the available equipment." PTI ANZ