Fire at ONGC plant near Mumbai doused; at least 4 killed, 8 injured

A major fire broke out at an Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Limited gas processing plant in Uran area near Mumbai, killing four persons, of which three were CISF personnel. Eight others were injured in the incident. According to officials, one CISF jawan is critically injured. All the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital where they are undergoing treatment.

The deceased have been identified as--NA Nayka, M Paswan and SP Kushwaha. The fourth person has been identified as CN Rao.

The ONGC has posted a tweet confirming that the fire was doused successfully within two hours by firefighting team. The tweet confirmed that the fire broke out in storm water drainage unit of the plant.

"Fire broke out in storm water drainage in Uran Plant early morning successfully doused within two hours by fire fighting team. #ONGC ’s robust crisis mitigation preparedness helped put off this major fire in a very short time," read the tweet posted by ONGC on its official handle.

The fire broke out at around 7.20 am, following which the firefighting operations were initiated. People living near the plant were evacuated by the authorities to prevent any large scale damage.

Confirming the incident, ONGC had earlier posted on microblogging site Twitter, "A fire broke out in storm water drainage early morning 2day in Uran oil & gas processing plant.ONGC fire services & crisis management team immediately pressed in2 action. Fire is being contained. No impact on Oil processing. Gas diverted to Hazira Plant. The situation is being assessed."

The fire wing of CISF had received information at around 6:50 AM that a fire has broken out at ONGC and a team of CISF personnel immediately rushed to the spot to douse the fire. An explosion took place in a pipeline as soon as the CISF personnel reached the spot, killing three CISF personnel and injuring one.

The ONGC has two types of CISF security, one which is tasked with securing the ONGC and second team is deployed at Fire Wing and is responsible for keeping fire-related incidents under control.

The firefighting operations were carried out by the fire services and crisis management team of the ONGC. Earlier reports had said that the fire broke out in a cold storage unit of the plant.