Hummingbird News Desk
HALDIA, 22 DEC: A high-level team of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) from Delhi reached at Haldia in East Midnapore, today, to probe the cause of yesterday’s fire at its Haldia refinery that claimed the lives of three contractual workers and caused the burn injuries of 44 others.
Among the injured, 38 persons are undergoing treatment at various super-facility hospitals in Kolkata. The condition of 22 persons is stated to be critical while the condition of the rest injured persons is apparently stable, hospital sources said.
The incident occurred at around 2.50 pm yesterday during maintenance-related work at a gasoline making unit of the 160,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery, a company official said.
It also said that the IOC has shut the refinery in the first week of this month for about 50 days for maintenance.
“The primary cause seems to be a flash fire leading to burn injuries to 44 persons and 3 persons have unfortunately succumbed to their injuries,” it said in a statement.
According to the company officials, the fire was extinguished within hours with the help of fire tenders and all the injured persons were immediately admitted to the Haldia Refinery Hospital where three persons succumbed to their injuries. Later, the rest were shifted to the Kolkata hospitals through a ‘green corridor’.
“The family members of the three contractual workers who unfortunately lost their lives in yesterday’s incident have been contacted for extending all possible support in this hour of grief.
“The senior management of the Indian Oil Corporation is continuously monitoring the situation, and IOC will provide all necessary assistance, relief and compensation to the affected workers,” the spokesperson added.
IOC had on Tuesday said in a statement that the primary cause of the incident at the motor spirit quality (MSQ) unit of the Haldia Refinery seemed to be flash fire.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed grief over the incident. “Deeply anguished by the fire in IOC, Haldia. Three precious lives were lost and my thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. Those injured are being brought to Kolkata through a green corridor. Government of West Bengal will extend all assistance to ensure their speedy recovery,” Miss Banerjee tweeted on Tuesday.
Image by HBN
Tags: #HaldiaRefinery #IOC #ForensicTeam #FireAtHaldiaRefinery
