Visakhapatnam: The death toll in the explosion at the refinery of Hindustan Petroleum rose to 23 on Sunday even as many others were being treated for severe burn injuries.
Executive Director of HPCL, V. V. R. Narasimham, said, among the dead was one regular employee while others were contract workers.
“The death toll has gone up and is now 23. This incident has jolted all of us. And we resolve that we will improve our refinery safety to one of the best in class,” said Narasimham.
A gas leak in the sea cooling water system has been attributed as one of the causes behind the massive blaze.
Meanwhile, HPCL has shut down part of its 166,000 barrel per day (bpd) capacity refinery after the fire in its cooling tower.
HPCL has closed a fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) and a gasoline unit at the refinery, which sends most of its petroleum products to domestic markets.
The injured are being treated at the Indian Navy hospital here and a few of the severely injured patients have been airlifted to Mumbai for treatment at the National Burns Centre.
“By month end we will know the approximate loss due to this and the loss varies from fortnight to fortnight because product prices keep on changing, said Narasimhan.
This accident is the second major fire at the plant in the past three months.
The 60,000 bpd crude unit at Visakhapatnam was shut on May 16 after a fire hit a pipeline attached to the unit hampering production.
HPCL also operates a 130,000 bpd plant in Maharashtra.
It also has a stake in the 180,000 bpd Bathinda refinery in Punjab, which is operated by Hindustan-Mittal Energy Ltd, a company jointly owned by HPCL and Mittal Energy Investments Pvt Ltd Singapore, a company owned by steel tycoon, Lakshmi N Mittal.
