Three out of 11 oil tanks still ablaze at IOC depot in Jaipur

Jaipur, Nov. 1 : Indian Oil Corporation on Sunday confirmed that three out of 11 petrol tanks are still blazing at the Sitapura oil storage depot near Jaipur, while the rest are spewing smoke.

“A factory adjacent to IOC factory caught fire; some bitumen fell on the top floor and it caught fire due to high temperature. After that police and fire fighting personnel had come to the site the fire is not now controlled. The digging of the trench is almost complete. Fire is still raging in three tanks. There are total 11 tanks in which 8 tanks it is mostly smoke,' Kuldeep Ranka, Collector of Jaipur.

Earlier in the day, two more bodies were spotted at the burning Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) fuel depot near Jaipur, pushing the toll to ten.

'The unidentified charred bodies were noticed in the wee hours of the day near one of the blazing tanks, but was not possible to reach there because of the heat,' said Inspector General of Police, B.L.Soni.

So far, nearly five lakh residents in the radius of five-kilometer area around the fire spot have been moved to safer locations after it was declared 'danger zone'.

Among those who were evacuated were all the patients, doctors and staff of a government hospital and engineering and medical students of 10 hostels.

According to IOC sources, a total loss of 300 crores has been estimated.

The IOC also said that it would take al least 15-18 months to rebuild the facility in Jaipur.

Earlier Petroleum Minister, Murli Deora had ordered a probe to ascertain the cause of fire.

--ANI