Two killed in major fire at oil storage facility near Surat

Surat: Two people have been found
dead a day after fire broke out at a
petrol storage tank of state-owned
Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) Hazira
terminal near Surat in Gujarat.
The identities of the two victims are
not known yet. However, officials say,
there were workers inside the storage
facility when the fire broke out.
According to officials, at least 70 per
cent of one of the five petrol storage
tanks, which caught fire yesterday
afternoon, has been charred by the
blaze. Around a hundred fire tenders
are still fighting to control it.
The tank had almost 5,000 kilolitre of
petrol, half of its capacity, when it
caught fire.
Oil Minister Veerappa Moily is
expected to visit the site today.
This is the second major fire at IOC
storage depots since 2009. On
October 29, 2009, a fire broke out at
its Jaipur terminal which was blamed
on non-observance of normal safety
procedures. The Jaipur depot fire
raged for 11 days, killed 11 people
and resulted in losses worth Rs 280
crore.
Hazira is a so-called 'white-oil
terminal', housing a tank farm to
store petrol and diesel. It has five
petrol storage tanks and four diesel
tanks.