One killed, three injured in cylinder blast at biogas plant

TUTICORIN: An innovative project to generate biogas from waste went terribly awry in Tuticorin on Wednesday as a cylinder exploded when gas was filled killing one and injuring three people.
Preliminary inquiries revealed the accident occurred due to human error when the deceased person, K Selvaraj, 41, lit a matchstick near the cylinder. "We have ordered a thorough inquiry," said Tuticorin corporation commissioner S Madhumathi.
Police said the Tuticorin Corporation had embarked on the Rs 32 lakh project to generate gas from solid and liquid waste at the compost yard in Tharuvaikulam in February this year. The project was handed over to Grace Line Bio Energy of Tuticorin. The project is aimed at producing 400 cubic metre of biogas, through which 62.5 kVA electricity could be generated. As the plant started generating biogas, project director K Selvaraj along with three of his staff visited the compost yard to fill the gas into fuel tanks of garbage collection trucks of the civic body on a trial basis.
"They had completed transferring gas from the plant to a fuel tank of a truck of the Tuticorin Corporation. It was then that Selvaraj lit a matchstick to check if gas was left over in the plant resulting in the blast," said a police officer citing eyewitnesses. The spark from the plant spread to the truck and the fuel tank also exploded leaving the truck in flames.
Selvaraj was flung apart and was charred beyond recognition. His assistants X Antony Sathish, 22, from Rajapalayam, A Ashok, 21, from Kovilpillaivilai and truck driver V Vijin Raj, 23, of Alangulam from Tirunelveli suffered severe burns. They were taken to the government hospital and later shifted to a private hospital.
Fire service personnel rushed to the spot and put off the fire. Soon, Tuticorin SP M Durai, corporation commissioner Madhumathi and other officials rushed to the spot. Police officials also visited the hospital and conducted inquiries with the three injured to piece together the sequence of events.
Corporation authorities said that since they were informed that only a trial run was being conducted, they chose not to participate in it. "There are adequate security measures in place at the plant. But it was the human error to light a matchstick near highly inflammable material that caused the accident," said an official.