12 dead, over 200 injured in Indian Oil depot fire in Jaipur

A massive fire erupted on Thursday night at Indian Oil Coporation’s fuel depot in Sitapura industrial area on the outskirts of the city killing 12 persons and injuring over 200, police and state officials said.

Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora who has left for Jaipur along with six experts said, “The fire is massive. We are finding it difficult to douse it.”

District administration sources said residents of about ten nearby villages, which house an estimated five lakh people, and inmates of hostels in 10 engineering and technical colleges and a medical college have been evacuated in the wake of the incident after which power supply in the area was cut off.

Another cause of concern is that the poisonous smoke has formed clouds over the nearby villages and Sanganer town.

IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria told media persons that the fire broke out at a petrol storage tank and quickly spread to other tanks. Police said several explosions were heard.

India Today