Death toll reaches 9 as India oil depot fire rages on

Oct 31, 2009, 7:56 GMT

   New Delhi - The death toll rose to nine as a huge fire raged at an oil depot near the northern India city of Jaipur Saturday, officials and news reports said.

   The blaze at the state-run Indian Oil Corp depot on the outskirts of Jaipur started Thursday evening and engulfed at least 11 tanks containing 8 million litres of oil.

   At least 150 employees and residents were injured while 500,000 people had to be evacuated from the area.

   The thick, black smoke and flames as high as 10 metres continued to rise from the site but officials said the fire had been contained within the premises as the company disconnected an underground pipeline supplying fuel from an oil well.

   The company said it would wait for the petroleum stock to burn off and the blaze to die out, saying it was still too dangerous for firefighters to approach.

   Three more bodies were recovered near the site on Saturday, bringing the death toll to nine, the PTI news agency reported quoting senior district official Kuldeep Ranka.

   Dozens were being treated at hospitals while many people were moved to temporary shelters, state officials said.

   There were no tourists among the victims. Jaipur is the state capital of the north-western desert state of Rajasthan which is among India's most popular holiday destinations.

   Hundreds of units in the Sitapura industrial area around the depot were damaged while more than 1,000 factories were shut down, a local industry association said.

   Officials estimate the losses at up to 5 billion rupees (about 100 million dollars).

   The fire had died down in four tanks with thick smoke emanating from them but officials said it may take many hours for the blaze to burn itself out in the remaining tanks.

   'We have to keep the fire tenders at a distance since there is tremendous heat coming out. It will probably take one more day for the fire to extinguish completely,' Rajasthan fire chief Ishwar Lal Jat told reporters.

   The temperature had shot beyond 52 degrees Celsius at a distance of 500 metres where the firefighters were positioned.

   India's federal Petroleum Ministry ordered an inquiry but experts say the tragedy was caused by serious safety violations.

   The NDTV network said neither the police nor fire department was informed of the accident until an hour after it occurred.

   The company said the fire was caused after a valve in a pipeline failed and petrol spilled out while being transferred. Some fire hydrants at the depot were reported to be without water.

   But Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said it was too early to assign the blame.

   'I won't say anything even if I know something. Our inquiry committee will go into the reasons why this fire happened. We will also try to find out corrective measures to prevent such tragedies in future,' he said.