Mumbai oil depot fire under control, no casualties

IANS

Mumbai, 18 January 2011: A huge fire broke out in an oil storage depot of the public sector Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) in Navi Mumbai early Tuesday. The fire was brought under control after nearly eight hours, police said.

"After nearly eight hours, the fire has been contained. There are no reports of any casualties. We also do not have any estimates of the losses due to the fire," Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Javed Ahmed said from the site.

 
The fire broke out around 2 a.m., after which an alert was received by the police from a security guard of the company in the Taloja-MIDC area.

At least 25 fire tenders rushed to the spot to fight the blaze, while reinforcements were summoned from neighbouring towns like Thane, Ambernath and Panvel, a police official said.

Ahmed said the priority was to contain the fire and ensure that it did not spread to other localities, including the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the residential areas of Taloja.

Though IOCL officials were not available for comments, it was reportedly estimated that around 200,000 litres of oil were burnt in the blaze.
Huge clouds of black smoke were seen billowing over large parts of Navi Mumbai area since early morning, waking up the residents. Navi Mumbai is located near India’s financial capital Mumbai.

All approach roads to the scene of the fire have been barricaded till the dousing operations are completed, police said.