Fire at HPCL refinery in Vizag; 2 killed, 30 injured

Two contract workers died while more than 30 were injured in a fire accident at HPCL's Visakha refinery here on Friday.

The fire broke out at around 4.30 pm at a cooling tower, which collapsed entirely. About six fire tenders were pressed into service.

The injured have been shifted to INS Kalyani and government-run KGH besides private hospitals. Names of the dead are not yet know.

Meanwhile, police had blocked the dockyard road as a precautionary measure.

The unit which immediately suspended crude processing operations, temporarily restarted processing around 7.30 pm, a company official said. The financial damage was yet to be ascertained, he added.

Earlier on May 17, a fire broke out at refinery's crude distillation unit (CDU)-3 but there were no casualties. A major fire accident occurred at Visakha refinery on September 14, 1997, in which 56 people had died.

PTI adds
HPCL chairman and managing director Subir Roy Choudhury said the fire had been brought under control. "We don't know the cause of the fire yet," he told PTI from Mumbai.

"All other units of the refinery are safe. But as a precautionary measure, we will have to shut down some units," HPCL director (Refineries) BK Namdeo said.

Choudhury said medical assistance has been rushed to the accident site and HPCL was attending to the injured.