Tokyo, Sept 28: A second major fire was raging at an oil refinery in northern Japan today as authorities announced that nearly 600 people had been injured by massive earthquakes and 60 aftershocks over the past three days. The government of Hokkaido, northern Japan, said a total of 590 people had been injured in Friday's two huge quakes, the first of which measured 8.0 on the Richter scale, and aftershocks by late today. Idemitsu Kosan oil refinery head Kazufumi Ishida said he was "speechless" with regret after a tank containing inflammable naphtha caught fire at the installation, which houses about 110 tanks in the pacific coast city of Tomakomai. This is the second fire at the refinery in three days after firefighters spent seven hours fighting an oil-tank blaze caused by Friday's earthquakes. Television footage showed huge orange flames and black smoke billowing from the roof of a cylindrical tank more than eight hours after the fire started, with fire-extinguishing foam falling on nearby residential areas.
Though there were no injuries, Tomakomai city officials advised 36,000 citizens to shut their windows and monitor television and radio news reports.
"We have mobilised 134 firefighters and 45 trucks to battle the fire, but we regret to say there are no signs of the fire abating," a local fire-prevention official said. “We do not know when it will be extinguished at all."
Refinery head Ishida apologised for not draining the tank after it was damaged on Friday.
Bureau report