Four persons, including three CISF jawans, were killed and three others injured when a massive fire broke out in storm water drainage at the Uran plant of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) in neighbouring Raigad district on Tuesday.  

Following the mishap, the domestic, industrial and commercial gas supply made to the city gas station of Messrs Mahanagar Gas Ltd at Wadala in north-central Mumbai was severely affected. 

Announcing fatalities in the mishap, ONGC tweeted: “We r extremely sad to hv lost 4 precious lives — 3 CISF jawans and a senior ONGC officer in the unfortunate fire incident in Uran Plant 2day in spite of valiant efforts made to contain blaze in less than 2 hrs time. #ONGC expresses its heartfelt condolence to bereaved families”.

The three CISF jawans of the Fire Wing (ONGC Unit) killed in the mishap were identified as Eranna Nayaka, Mahendra Kumar Paswan and Satish Prasad Kushwaha. The ONGC identified the senior official killed in the mishap as its Residential Chief Plant Supervisor C N Rao (50).

“CISF salutes the supreme sacrifice of HC Eranna Nayaka, CT Mahendra Kumar, CT Satish Prasad who attained martyrdom during fire fighting operation at #ONGC Uran, Navi Mumbai. #CISF will be indebted for their bravery & commitment. Our deepest condolences to the bereaved families,” the CISF stated in a tweet.

Meanwhile, ONGC said that there was no impact on oil processing and that the gas was diverted to its Hazira plant near Surat, Gujarat.

The fire broke out at around 6.45 am. “Fire broke out in storm water drainage in Uran Plant early morning successfully doused within two hours by fire fighting team. The ONGC’s robust crisis mitigation preparedness helped put off this major fire in a very short time,” an ONGC spokesperson said.

Official sources attributed the fire to a gas leak detected near the LPG plant. Before long, the officials plugged the gas leak.  “We were trying to ascertain if there were more leaks. Meanwhile, there was aa blast followed by huge fire,” sources said. Though there was no official confirmation about the injuries in the mishap, the Navi Mumbai police said that three persons were injured in the mishap. The injured persons were rushed to a nearby hospital, a senior police official said.

Apart from the ONGC's own fire services and crisis management teams, fire-fighters from Uran, JNPT, Navi Mumbai and surroundings battled with the fire and brought it under control in two hours. In all, 22 fire tenders belonging to various agencies were at the spot.