Rs 500 crore goes up in flames in Jaipur

JAIPUR:

As Rs 500 crore worth of fuel burned through the second day of the Jaipur inferno, there were two questions no one had answered

Jaipur fire satisfactorily. How did it happen? And how many had died in the blaze that started with a blast on Thursday evening?

Although officials have confirmed five deaths, six others present at the site at the time of the fire are feared dead. Five bodies have been recovered but the IOC employees are still untraced. Many more are critical in the city's hospitals.

``It's not known whether these employees are dead but they were at the depot during the time of the fire. Those declared dead are people who had been admitted to various hospitals since Thursday,'' Rajasthan home secretary Pradip Sen said.

During the day, petroleum minister Murli Deora visited the site but could not throw much light on what exactly triggered the killer blaze and how it spun out of control. He was resigned to the fact that there was no way but to let the one lakh kilolitres of fuel in IOC's 11 tankers at the oil depot in Sitapura Industrial Area to just burn out.

But experts were unanimous: the incident happened due to human negligence. There were other who said timely action could have prevented the scale of damage. ``There were alarms, and the smell of oil. That should have been enough to warn officials. They should have acted instantly. But it seems they took it easy and let things go out of control,'' said an expert from Jamnagar.

``We had heard the wails of a siren on the IOC premises hours before the fire and the blast. The entire area smelled of oil. Why is it then that preventive measures were not taken in time?'' said Mohammed Zabbal, who works at Genus, a factory near the IOC depot. His factory was gutted and he sustained splinter injuries and is now admitted at Sawai Man Singh Hospital.

On Thursday, IOC officials said that based on preliminary reports the fire broke out after a pipeline valve failed when petrol was being transferred from the IOC terminal to Bharat Petroleum's terminal just a little distance away.

While officials stuck to the leak theory, they found it difficult to pinpoint what provided the spark. Some suggested that the power which had been cut off at around 4.30 pm following reports of a gas leak from the depot was switched on again around 7.30 pm, before they had received the all-clear. Some others suggested that a minor earthquake triggered the blaze.

On Friday it was decided that a central committee would probe the blaze. The five-member team will be headed by former HPCL chairman and managing director, M B Lal. The committee is to submit its report in six weeks, Deora said. He was accompanied by Indian Oil chairman Sarthak Behuria, who has been instructed to personally oversee the operations.

The state has also set up a committee to assess the damages in nearby factories. Initial estimates suggest factories in the Sitapura area took Rs 300-crore hit because of the blaze.

The flames, though a bit subdued, have thrown up huge columns of thick, black smoke which are blocking sunlight. ``There is little we can do. The fuel has to burn itself out before we can start any operation,'' Deora said after an early morning inspection. Deora, on behalf of the IOC, also announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the dead, Rs 2 lakh for those severely injured and Rs 1 lakh for those who suffered simple injuries.

Through the day fire experts of IOC from Mathura, Delhi, Panipat, and those from ONGC Hazira, just stood and watched the leaping flames. By afternoon an area of 5 km radius around the fire was cordoned off.

``There are chances of further blasts from the depot and that is why we do not want anyone to come near it. Moreover, the toxic fumes can be injurious to health,'' said district collector Kuldeep Ranka.

All educational institutions and industries in the area remained shut through the day. Even train and bus routes plying through the area were changed. The Mahatma Gandhi Hopsital that lies in the Sitapura area was vacated.

Bay Bridge ready for Friday commute?

Chances have increased slightly that the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will reopen in time for the Friday morning commute, transportation officials said Thursday evening.
Repairs on the span, a major artery in and out of San Francisco, California, could wrap up by 10 p.m. PT Thursday, according to the state transportation department.
On Tuesday, three days pieces of steel from the bridge fell onto its roadway, forcing its closure.
Crews working on the bridge are replacing four steel rods, one of which failed and caused two rods to fall onto the bridge's deck, California's secretary of business, transportation and housing said at a news conference.
Engineers also will make sure the rods are centered and will strengthen the welds to ensure stability, Dale Bonner added. Vibrations in the rods, affected by strong winds, caused the break.
The pieces that fell, which include a cross beam, came from a section that was repaired over Labor Day weekend, when crews worked almost round the clock to fix a crack.


The 73-year-old bridge spans the San Francisco Bay and carries an average of 280,000 vehicles daily, according to the state transportation department.
In the wake of the bridge's closing, commuters flocked to the Bay Area's rail system as an alternative.
On Wednesday, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) said it had carried the most passengers ever.
About 437,200 people took BART, about 26 percent more than on an average Wednesday, the agency said in a news release.
When the Bay Bridge does reopen, Bonner said, travelers should not worry about safety.
"The public need not fear that the bridge is going to fall down," he said. "There's no concern about that."
During the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, a 50-foot section of the bridge collapsed, killing one person and prompting efforts to make it quake-tolerant.

Six Indian Oil Staff Reported missing at Jaipur Fire

Jaipur/New Delhi, Oct 30

The toll in the fire at Indian Oil Corp's fuel depot outside the Pink City may rise to nine as six missing employees are now feared dead, even as fire fighters and the Army worked to contain the blaze that has burnt about Rs 150 crore worth of auto fuel.

"Three civilians are confirmed dead and one is seriously injured. Six of our staff - three officers and three blue collared employees, are missing," IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria, who visited the accident site this morning, said.

Five civilians were seriously injured while 40 others sustained minor injuries. The injured were admitted to various hospitals in the city and are undergoing medical treatment.

China Says Its Military Build-Up Is For Peace

China's second highest-ranking military officer offered assurances that Beijing's military build-up was entirely for peaceful purposes, at the start of a visit to the US.

Speaking at a Washington-based think-tank ahead of a private meeting with US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, General Xu Caihou said Monday that China had no intentions of regional hegemony or starting an arms race in Asia.

Xu, vice chairman of the People's Liberation Army's Central Military Commission, called for closer ties with the US and said both militaries were tackling similar goals: confronting terrorism, self-defence and aiding disaster relief.

"We are now predominantly committed to peaceful development, and we will not and could not challenge or threaten any other country," Xu told the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, complaining of "suspicions and misunderstandings" about Beijing's intentions.

"China's defence policy remains defensive," he said.

Any Chinese offensive would be launched "only after the enemy has started an attack".

But China suffers from "secessionist" movements and had yet to become a "united" country, Xu said, referring to long-standing tensions over Taiwan, Tibet and unrest between Muslim Uighurs and ethnic Chinese in the western province of Xinjiang.

Xu's visit to the US is aimed at building trust between the two militaries. He will meet US defence officials and tour a number of military installations. Gates travelled to China two years ago.

The US has urged China to be more open about its military buildup and budgeting process.

China has the second-highest military budget in the world, though it is still about one-fourth that of US defence spending.

"China will always be a staunch force for promoting world peace and common development," Xu said, noting the country's participation in UN peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

He said economic development remained China's top priority.

IOC Refinery Unaffected by Jaipur Fire

Indian Oil Corp., the nation’s second-largest refiner, said a fire at a terminal in Jaipur hasn’t affected output at its refinery in Mathura, which supplies fuels to the storage unit through pipeline.

“Production at Mathura hasn’t been affected by the fire,” B.N. Bankapur, the company’s New Delhi-based director of refineries, said by telephone today. “Production must continue and products evacuated through different routes if we must.”

The terminal in Jaipur in the western state of Rajasthan caught fire late yesterday. Almost 270 army personnel have reached the site to help fight the blaze, which killed five people and injured 150, the Press Trust of India reported.

The fire may have been caused by a leaking gasoline pipeline, N. Srikumar, Mumbai-based executive director, said by telephone yesterday.

The Mathura refinery has installed capacity to process 8 million metric tons of oil annually, according to state-owned Indian Oil’s Web site.

Massive Fire Near Jaipur 12 People Were Killed

Jaipur: A massive fire broke out at Indian Oil Corporation’s fuel depot in Sitapura industrial area in the outskirts of the city Thursday night killing five persons and injuring 150, police said.

State officials said the help of the Army was sought to help douse the fire at the depot which is on the highway near the airport.

"The fire is massive. We are finding it difficult to douse it," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said tonight three hours after the fire spread to adjacent depots. The fire broke out at around 7.30 pm and it may be several hours before it is completely brought under control. Deora said he is leaving for Jaipur tomorrow.

Dr Ashok Pangudia, Medical Superintendent at SMS hospital, said two persons were brought dead at the hospital while one person was reported to have died in a private hospital. Some of the injured had splinter injuries, he said.



Huge flames shot into the air amid billowing smoke as hundreds of people in the villages in and around the depot panicked and fled from their homes. The fire also spread to some industrial units in a radius of three km destroying them.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the assistance of Army is being sought to help douse the fire. Some Army jawans joined the rescue operations.

The injured were rushed to Mahatma Gandhi and SMS hospitals. Some of them had serious burn injuries.

The fire broke out when petrol was being transferred from the fuel depot to a pipeline. A leak in the pipeline is suspected to have caused the blaze.

IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria told a news agency that the fire broke out at a petrol storage tank and quickly spread to other tanks. Police said several explosions were heard.

The IOC tank farm had 8 to 10 storage containers that stored petrol, diesel kerosene for supply in Jaipur and adjoining areas.

Special teams have been rushed to Jaipur to coordinate the operations there, the officials said. IOC experts are also being flown from Mumbai and New Delhi.

Deora has instructed IOC Director Marketing G C Dagga to immediately rush to Jaipur to oversee the rescue operation.

Behuria and HPCL Chairman Arun Balakrishanan have been asked to go to Jaipur tomorrow morning.

He said the depot was a modern depot and employs a minimal work force 20 to 25 people and it was very unlikely that many of them would have been present at the depot at the time of the fire.

He said the fuel in the tank would be allowed to burn out before bringing the fire under control.

Officials said steps were being taken to ensure that the fire did not spread far through the pipeline.

Electricity in the area has been cut off as a precautionary measure.

Rajasthan Health Minister Immamuddin Ahmed said two bodies recovered from the fire site had been taken to Swai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital here and another one to Fortis.

At least 50 of the injured have been admitted to SMS, he added.

Bureau Report