Explosion at Indian refinery kills eight with 39 injured

Eight people have been killed in a major fire that followed an explosion at the Indian state-owned oil company Hindustan Petroleum’s (HPCL) Visakh Refinery in Vizag on Friday.

Additionally, 39 contract workers have been injured in the explosion, with seven receiving burns above 70% and 17 others burns above 40%.

Around 50 workers were present in the area at the time of the incident, which occurred during the commissioning of a wooden cooling tower at a diesel hydro desulphurisation unit being built at the refinery.

Experts from National Disaster Response Team in Guntur have been deployed to execute the rescue operation.

Union Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily said that the government will take necessary action following a report into the incident.

"If any lapse or the violation of safety norms are detected on the part of contractors, the government will not hesitate to file criminal cases against them", Moily added.

As a precautionary measure, two production units have been closed and output at the refinery has been reduced to 60%.

The refinery has a capacity of 8.5 million metric tonnes per annum. The Ministry of Environment and Forests had earlier rejected a $1.5bn plan to expand its capacity to 15 million tonnes.