IOC’s lube blending plant in Navi Mumbai catches fire

A major fire that broke out at Indian Oil Corp.’s (IOC) lubricant blending plant shortly after midnight at the Taloja Industrial area of Navi Mumbai on January 18 has completely been put out with no casualties. Firemen battled to control the fire for more than eight hours. No casualties have been reported. The fire broke out in the drum-filling area of the plant. Around 40,000 liters of lubricating oil is reported to have been burnt in the incident. Sources claimed that short circuit could be the reason; however, there has been no official confirmation. More than 20 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. While the personnel managed to bring the fire under control by 8 am, the entire process of extinguishing the fire and the cooling process took several hours. Thick smoke continued to bellow till late in the afternoon, a fire official said. A.N. Jha, IOC’s head of corporate communications, said, “No one was present where the fire broke out. It is a single shift plant that operates only during the day. The security guards noticed the fire and informed us.” (January 18, 2011)