Fire at IOC’s Gujarat refinery claims two lives

The fire that broke out at the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)’s Gujarat Refinery at Koyali in Gujarat’s Vadodara on Monday has claimed two lives while as many people injured in the incident were undergoing treatment.
“…one contract worker died from injuries suffered at the site,” the IOC said in a statement on Tuesday. A canteen worker from the refinery, who fell unconscious and was hospitalised, died later. IOC said the exact cause of deaths of the two would be determined after post-mortem.
Vadodara police commissioner Narasimha Komar said an explosion took place in a storage tank on Monday, resulting in the fire that spread to two other adjacent tanks. The firefighters contained the blaze in one of the tanks and continued to battle the flames in the remaining two tanks until Tuesday morning.
The Koyali refinery, also known as Gujarat Refinery, was established in 1962. It processes crude oil into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel, LPG, kerosene, and aviation fuel. The refinery has an annual crude oil processing capacity of 13.7 million tonnes. It caters primarily to the markets in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and parts of Maharashtra and Rajasthan.