Two dead, 38 injured in blaze at HPCL refinery in vizag

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Some more workers are feared to be trapped under the debris of the cooling tower that collapsed after the fire that raged for nearly an hour before being doused.

According to eye-witnesses, the mishap occurred at around 4.30 pm when contract workers were carrying out welding work at the site of the under renovation cooling tower as part of the modernization works at the refinery.

Nearly 77 contract workers from three subcontracting firms were understood to have been at the site when the mishap took place. These include fabrication and erection contractors Gopal Engineering and Jayalakshmi as well as wood works firm Bridge & Roof.

While the body of an unidentified, badly charred worker was shifted to King George Hospital, the second person Murari Pradhan (32) succumbed to his burns at Manipal Hospital. The injured workers were first rushed to the INS Kalyani Naval Hospital opposite the HPCL main gate for first aid and from there to various hospitals in the city.

Confirming the casualties, in-charge district collector Praveen Kumar said two people were killed in the fire and more people could be trapped under the debris of the cooling tower.

"One person was badly charred to death and is yet to be identified. Another person Murari Pradhan too has died. A 38-member National Disaster Response Force from Guntur is on its way to carry out search and rescue operations at the site as the cooling tower has collapsed and the area is still scorching hot. An enquiry will be conducted into the cause of the fire," Praveen Kumar said. However, HPCL officials were not available for comment.

When city police commissioner B Shivadhar Reddy visited the accident site, he said that three people were suspected to be missing.

Joint chief inspector of factories Chandrasekhar Varma, who also visited the site, said HPCL was conducting trial runs at the ill-fated cooling tower, which was just renovated, by running hot water through the pipeline.

However, one of the workers alleged that a naphtha pipeline running below the cooling tower had been leaking for the past few days despite which the authorities had allowed welding work to be carried out at the site.

Irate workers said this was the second mishap to take place at the ill-fated cooling tower. Govind Rao, one of the contract workers, said that the cooling tower had collapsed two months ago and the latest incident took place when they were trying to erect it again.