Blast at Indian Oil Corporation’s Gujarat refinery in Vadodara

NEW DELHI: A blast occurred at Indian Oil Corporation’s Gujarat Refinery in Vadodara on Monday leading to the death of two person.

Vadodara district collector Bijal Shah said that the blast occurred at around 3.50pm.

"Today, a fire was reported at around 3:30 PM in a Benzene Storage Tank (1000 KL capacity) at Gujarat Refinery. The refinery’s emergency response team is actively tackling the situation, with firefighting operations currently underway. The adjacent water sprinkler system has been activated to contain the fire, and dousing efforts are ongoing. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained," IOCL said in a statement.

"Safety of our employees and surrounding communities remains our utmost priority. The refinery operations are normal. Further updates will be provided as the situation develops," it added.

This comes nearly two decades after a major blast rocked the Indian Oil Corporation's Gujarat Refinery leaving 13 injured. The explosion had occurred at the Fluid Catalytic Cracker (FCC) plant at around, triggering a fire that took nearly four hours of firefighting efforts to bring under control.

In 2005, a major accident was narrowly avoided at the Gujarat Refinery when a fire broke out in the pipelines connected to the newly commissioned FCC unit.

Later, in June 2010, another significant fire erupted in the GR plant's backyard in Karachiya village. While there were no casualties, an investigation uncovered that large quantities of bitumen had been illegally dumped on the site.


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