Explosion at Mangalore’s ISPRL fuel cavern site: 3 dead, 4 injured. ( View Pics at your own discretion)

Report by: Nina Rai

May 27, 2011:

A blast at a fuel cavern site at the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) at Surathkal near Mangalore, late Thursday evening, May 25, 2011 resulted in three deaths and four suffering severe injuries.

According to ISPRL sources, the three persons included a South Korean, Song (36) a mining expert, Sirajuddin (25), a safety officer from nearby Katipalla; and Shivnath (40), a laborer.

The other four who suffered injuries are Lawrence from Katipalla, Vikram Jyothidas from Assam, Sheikh Ghani from Kateel and Srinath from UP. All of them are reported to be out of danger.

According to Vijayanand, the ISPRL Chief Manager the blast took place when explosive experts were trying to defuse some unexploded detonators at the fuel cavern site, of the oil reserve.

It was in May 2009, that the basic structure for construction of oil reserve near Surathkal was laid. On completion it will have a storage capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil.

There are two other oil reserves in India; one is at Padur near Udupi and other at Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh

Among the three strategic crude oil storages on the anvil is this facility at Mangalore, set- up by the government of India, with the view to ensuring the energy security of the country.

News report & pictures (plz view at your own discretion):

http://www.coastaldigest.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25326:three-including-a-foreigner-killed-in-explosion-at-bajpe-isprl-unit&catid=57:news-stories&Itemid=68