UP: Fire at Mathura refinery, seven personnel sustain burn injuries

A fire broke out at a refinery in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura on Tuesday. Seven staff members sustained burn injuries, out of which three people have been shifted to Delhi for better treatment. The fire took place during start-up activity after shut down at the plant at about 7.30 pm on Tuesday. Mathura Refinery’s public relations officer Renu Pathak said there was no loss of life and fire is under control. A probe will be ordered to ascertain negligence.
The fire in Mathura refinery took place after two workers died in a blaze at the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) refinery in Gujarat’s Vadodara.
The fire, that began at around 3:30 pm on Monday with a blast in a benzene storage tank of the refinery located in the Koyali area on Vadodara’s outskirts, later spread to two other adjoining tanks.Two persons — contractual worker Dhimant Makwana (who succumbed to injury on Monday) and canteen worker Shailesh Makwana — died in the fire. An IOCL official received injuries and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital. Dharmendrasinh Vaghela, the BJP MLA of the Waghodia assembly constituency where the refinery complex is located, told PTI,”I had a meeting with IOCL officers. The refinery has agreed to pay a compensation of ₹25 lakh to the families of each deceased, take up responsibility for education of their children and provide jobs to their respective wife as per their educational qualification.”The IOCL in a statement said, the blaze was fully extinguished at around 2 am on Tuesday by the company’s fire fighting teams and mutual aid partners. It said the refinery operations were now normal, ensuring uninterrupted production. “We have constituted a high-level committee to thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident. Further updates will be shared as we work towards it,” the statement said. (With bureau inputs)