Major fire at IOC’s Hazira terminal

Hazira : Flames billowing out after a major fire broke out at a storage tank of Indian Oil Corporation's terminal at Hajira on Saturday. PTI Photo (PTI1_5_2013_000176A)

A major fire broke out on Saturday Indian Oil Corporation’s Hazira terminal in Gujarat.

Officials said the fire was reported around afternoon at one of the five petrol storage tanks.

The tank had almost 5,000 kilolitre of fuel, half of its capacity, when the fire erupted.

This is the second major fire at IOC storage depots since 2009. On October 29, 2009, a fire broke out at its Jaipur terminal, which was blamed on non-observance of normal safety procedures. The fire raged for 11 days, killed 11 people and caused losses worth Rs. 280 crore.

Senior IOC officials have rushed to Hazira to supervise operations and an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the causes of the fire. Hazira is a “white-oil terminal” that houses a tank farm to store petrol and diesel. It also has four diesel tanks.

While the local administration rushed fire brigade personnel from Surat and nearby cities, IOC sent fire tenders from its Koyali refinery to douse the fire.

“The fire has been isolated,” a company official said. “A high-level team has been constituted to investigate the cause of the fire, but our first priority is to put out the fire.”

A senior team from Mumbai IOC office also rushed to the fire site.