Accidents can happen.
And, in an oil refinery that deals with tonnes of highly inflammable petroleum products, an accident can often take ghastly proportions as it happened on Friday when some contractual labourers were first drenched in diesel and then caught fire leading to over 50 per cent burn injuries to at least four.
But, a day after the fateful accident at the Haldia refinery of Indian Oil, questions are cropping up as to whether the company management took adequate precautions to avert the possibility of such an accident.
While official sources are tight-lipped, available accounts suggest that the company ignored alerts.
The reason behind the accident was a rupture in a diesel pipeline, which was previously identified to have been badly corroded. According to the standard procedure, the company’s in-house inspectors recommended replacement of the pipeline at least a couple of months ago.
Unfortunately, the recommendation was literally ‘partly’ followed, as only a part of the pipeline was replaced.
The decision proved fatal on Friday when diesel started gushing out at high pressure through a small rupture — described in technical parlance as a ‘fish-mouth’ rupture — splashing diesel over large area and creating a vapour cloud.
Diesel is generally not so inflammable. But the vapour cloud and a welding job in the vicinity made it a deadly combination.
Before they could realise what had happened the hapless workers were engulfed by a cloud of fire. IOC authorities did douse the fire in 25 minutes, but that was a little too long for at least four, who are now fighting for their lives in a private hospital in Kolkata.
Hopefully, the company managers will be more careful the next time.