Methanol tank catches fire after blast near Kandla Port;4 dead

Four persons were killed on Monday after a fire triggered by an explosion raged inside a methanol storage tank of a private firm located near Kandla Port in Gujarat's Kutch district, a police officer said.

The Deendayal Port Trust (DPT) stated that the roof of the tank blew away due to the blaze.

As per a complaint filed with the Kandla Marine police station, the fire broke out inside the tank number 303 in the storage terminal around 1:30 pm and has been raging since the last eight hours.

A Kandla fire station official said efforts are on to stop the fire from spreading to nearby tanks.

The incident occurred when an employee of M/S IMC terminal, located around 16 kms away from Gandhidhan in Kutch district, and three labourers were conducting a routine inspection of the storage tank, the officer said.

"This terminal, having storage tanks, is situated in Kandla town, close to the port. When a company employee and three labourers went up on one of the methanol tanks for a routine inspection, the roof suddenly blew away with a blast. Fire-fighting is still on," said Deputy SP, Dhananjaysinh Vaghela.

He said bodies of all the four victims have been recovered from the site and being sent for postmortem.

While the deceased employee has been identified as Sanjay Wagh, the three labourers are identified as Sanjay Sahu, Darshan Rai and Omprakash Regar.

At least ten fire tenders of the Deendayal Port Trust (DPT) of Kandla and of Gandhidham municipality have been trying to douse the flames.

Vaghela, however, ruled out the possibility of further rise in the dath toll.

In a release, the Deendayal Port Trust (DPT) said fire fighting operations are on using foam.

"Fire broke out in one of the tanks of M/s IMC terminal at Kandla. Fire took place in a Methanol tank. Due to fire, the roof of the tank blew away. Currently, fire fighting is under progress by foam media by DPT fire brigade section, IMC team and other associated terminals," it stated.

The DPT further stated that "cooling of another nearby tank is being done by medium velocity water sprinklers".