BLAZE UNDER CONTROL NOW

More than 45 hours after a diesel tanker at Butcher Island off Mumbai’s coast caught fire owing to lightning, the blaze was brought under control on Sunday.

MUMBAI : More than 45 hours after a diesel tanker at Jawahar Dweep, also known as Butcher Island, off Mumbai’s coast caught fire owing to lightning, the blaze was brought under control on Sunday afternoon.

The island houses a marine oil terminal of the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT). The fire broke out in fuel storage tanker number 13, which was carrying highspeed diesel, around 4.30pm on Friday. The tremendous heat and more than 40 hours of raging fire caused the tanker to explode around 11.45am on Sunday. More than 60 fire-fighters from the Mumbai fire brigade and the MbPT fire service worked in two shifts for three days in a row to contain the fire. The cooling operations of the tanker and others around it, however, went on till Sunday night. No loss of life or injuries was reported.

P Rahangdale, chief fire officer of the Mumbai fire brigade, said, “Bringing the fire under control was a mammoth task. Such operations have led to tremendous loss of life and property in the past. The co-ordination between the Mumbai fire brigade and MbPT fire service ensured it was confined to only one tanker, where it started.”

After the tanker exploded on Sunday morning, fire-fighters feared the blaze would spread to the adjacent tanks, posing a risk to those involved in the operation. “The tanker tilted towards the shore on Sunday morning, before disintegrating at 11.45am. The fire-fighters used foam to contain the fire from spreading,” Rahangdale said.

Firemen used thermal imaging cameras to check the level of diesel oil in the tanker. Rahangdale said, “The temperature around the burning tanker varied up to 350°C, so those involved in the fire-fighting operation stayed at a safe distance. We used three fixed monitors and two portable foam induction monitors to control the fire. We were simultaneously emptying oil from the other tanks.”