Vadodara, October 29
A powerful blast in one of the reactors of the Indian Oil Corporation-owned Gujarat Refinery today injured 16 persons, spreading panic in the highly sensitive industrial belt of Jawaharnagar on the outskirts of the city. Official sources said the blast, which reportedly occurred around 0330 am in the main fluidised catalytic cracking (FCC) plant’s reactor, completely gutted the unit, damaging property worth several crores.
Top engineers and officials of the refinery, including its Executive Director B.N. Bankapur, rushed to the spot.
Though the fire in the plant was put out within a couple of hours by the refinery’s own fire safety measures, the cause of the blast was not immediately known.
According to Mr Bankapur, the injured, who included seven refinery employees and nine contract labourers, had sustained minor burn injuries and were being treated at the refinery hospital.
He said the blast seemed to have occurred due to leakage of gas during the start-up operation of the reactor, which was shut down for the past 18 days for maintenance. —
UNI
