Bhilai, Oct 09: Nine persons were killed and 14 were injured in a major mishap which occurred at Bhilai Steel Plant on Tuesday morning. The mishap occurred some where between the Coke Oven Battery Number 11 and Blast Furnace # 8. All of a sudden, coke oven gas leaked and simultaneous blasts triggered fire in the pipelines at the spot where scheduled maintenance works were being conducted, sources informed. The affected people are employees of Energy Management Department and Fire Brigade. Some of them were from the Mechanical Maintenance unit of EMD. Condition of 14 people was reported to be critical. All the victims are under going treatment at JLN Hospital, Sector 9. Any official declaration regarding names and identity of the deceased was not made till filing of this report. Several top political leaders and trade union leaders gathered at JLN Hospital to inquire about the condition of the victims.
As the bodies have charred beyond recognition the authorities are yet to confirm the names of deceased. Some insiders informed that seven of the bodies have been identified by their family members while two other victim families have demanded to conduct DNA examination for recognition of the bodies. According to unconfirmed reports, the deceased are Ganesh Ram (Senior Technician, EMD), Uday Pandey (Master Technician, EMD), Syed Akil Ahmad (Senior Technician, EMD), Kesho Ram (Senior Technician, EMD), Sanjay Chaudhary (OCT, EMD), Malkham Prasad (Leading Fireman, Fire Brigade), Vishwanath Rajput (Seniro Fire Station Officer), Indraman Dubey (Fireman cum Driver) and Dev Narayan Taram (Fireman cum Driver).
Those admitted to the hospital are Jitendra Kumar (Fireman), Satya Vijay (Senior Technician, EMD), Sohanlal Meena (Fireman), TN Jaiswal (Sr Technician EMD), Ranjeet Kumar (OCT, EMD), Lokendra Dhruw (Fireman, HRDC), Sukant Behra (ACT, EMD), Chattrapal Singh Rana (Fireman), Dinesh Kumar Mourya (Sr Technician EMD), DK Chauhan (Assistant Manager, EMD), Hemant Uraon (OCT, EMD), Durgesh Singh Rathore (ACT, EMD), Narendra Kumar (Fireman) and Vimal Kumar (Fireman). Condition of Satya Vijay, Duresh Singh Rathore and Dinesh Mourya was reported to be critical as they suffered almost cent per cent burns about their body.
It was the first major mishap after commissioning of the new Blast Furnace and Coke Oven Battery under the Modernization and Expansion Project of Bhilai Steel Plant. Earlier to this, a major Gas leak incident had occurred on June 12, 2014 in which six men were killed including two executives and more than two dozen were injured. This mishap had occurred at Pump House Number 2 of Water Supply Department. After this shocking mishap, BSP had stepped up its arrangements over the gas safety issues and sensors with alarms were installed across the plant.
According to reports, an expert team of Maintenance Section of Energy Management Department was deployed fro conducting maintenance works in the pipelines which carry coke oven gas to the Blast Furnace. One of the groups conducted the task of unscrewing the nut-bolts while the second team was about to remove the plates when gas leaked from the pipelines and blasts occurred. Soon the entire area was engulfed in flames. More than a dozen workmen were unable to escape from the spot and suffered fatal burns. Some others tried to escape but they too suffered serious burns about their body. The maintenance works was being carried out at an altitude of about 50 feet above the ground level. Five of the workmen, who were tied with safety belts, were charred to death on the spot. The firemen deployed at the spot also suffered burns in this mishap and four of them were reportedly killed.
Soon the rescue teams reached the spot and the injured were rushed to the Main Medical Post and after administering first aid, they were shifted to Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital and Research Centre. Nine of them were declared brought dead at the hospital while 14 other victims have been admitted in the Burn Unit of JLN Hospital. Condition of four of them was reported to be very critical as they have suffered 100% burns.
On the other hand, fire fighting operations were conducted at the mishap site. The entire area was cordoned off and heavy security force was deployed. The nearby offices and mills were evacuated and the employees were asked to move to safe places. Partial shut down of gas supply and power supply was taken during the fire fighting operations. The firemen had to struggle for about one-and-a-half-hour to douse flames and bring the situation under control.
In its official statement, BSP authorities communicated that in an unfortunate incident at around 10.30 hrs in SAIL’s Bhilai Steel Plant, there was a fire in gas pipe line of Coke Oven Battery Complex No 11 during a scheduled maintenance job. Some persons working at the site sustained burn injury.
Injured persons were immediately rushed to the BSP hospital for medical care and aid. Meanwhile, the fire has been controlled. So far, 9 persons have lost their lives and 14 are undergoing medical treatment. All resources have been mobilized to provide adequate care to the injured.
Top administrative officials including Divisional Commissioner Dilip Wasnikar, District Collector Umesh Kumar Agrawal, IG (Durg Range) GP Singh, SP Dr Sanjeev Shukla and others reached the hospital and are maintaining watch on the developments. Union Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai also reached JLN Hospital for inquiring the incidence.