At least 45 people have been injured, one critically, after a massive fire broke out following a blast in state-run Bharat Petroleum refinery in central Mumbai's Chembur area on Wednesday afternoon.
The blast occurred around 2.45 pm at the unit's hydrocracker plant containing around 72 tonnes of liquid hydrocarbon which was to be used for generating diesel. Its tremors rocked residential and commercial complexes within a kilometre's radius while its boom resounded up till Govandi and Deonar.
The blast site is encircled by a number of strategic industrial plants such as those of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Tata Power and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF).
BPCL spokesperson Sundararajan told DNA: "A blaze occurred at BPCL's Mahul plant today at around 2:45 pm, in the compressor shed of hydrocracker plant. The fire was brought under control by 3.30 pm."
The first response came from BPCL's own fire-fighting team. But as the inferno raged on, the Mumbai fire brigade was called in.
Firefighters from HPCL, RCF, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Mazgaon Dock were also pressed into service.
Chief fire officer Prabhat Rahangdale, Mumbai Fire Brigade, said, "The fire was caused due to a blast in the hydrocracker plant in the cracking vacuum gas oil and hydrocarbon unit. It caused damage to some other BPCL plants, and injured 45 people."
While 22 of the injured were given preliminary treatment at the BPCL medical centre before being discharged, 21 were sent to Sushrut Hospital for further treatment. One of them is critical and is in the intensive care.
Rahangdale said that around 10 BPCL teams, mutual-aid response groups and the fire brigade were engaged in the cooling operations till late night.
"All of the company's plants have been depressurised and shuttered for safety. The remaining hydrocarbon is under a controlled burning process till the stock is exhausted," he said. "The situation is under control."
R Ramachandran, head of refineries, told Reuters: "We have shut the hydrocracker and assessment will be done on Thursday to know how long we need to keep it shut."
A worker by the name of Algapuri, who was at a nearby unit when the explosion took place, said, "There was this huge, unbearable sound. I saw some injured people being taken out by the firemen."
Meanwhile, people displaced by development projects who have been rehabilitated in Mahul staged a protest in front of their buildings. They demanded that they be shifted elsewhere as they did not feel safe in the trouble-ridden industrial area.
One of them, Sangita Shinde, said they constantly fear for theri lives. "Apart from falling ill due to chemicals in the air, we live in continual fear of some disaster," she said.
In July 2016, a massive blast took place at a boiler inside the RCF plant in Chembur, which killed three people and injured five others.
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