Condition of four out of seven injured is critical who were injured in tanker blast while filling fuel at filling point on Friday night at the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) depot located at Bhauri Bakania located on the Bhopal-Indore bypass.
All the 7 people present at the filling point sustained severe burn injuries at the time of the accident. These include tanker drivers, cleaners, depot employees. These include Salman (30), Shanu (35), Vinod (37), Raja Miyan (40), Shirak (18), Chhotelal (28), Antram (40). Four injured in this have been admitted to the ICU.
Collector Avinash Lavania said that the administration has started an investigation into the accident in the storage unit of BPCL. The cause of the accident will be known only after investigation.
MP Tanker Workers Association Treasurer Shaukat Ali claimed that fuel filling is done in Bharat Petroleum's depot with old technology.
Neither do they have computerized machines, nor new technology security equipment. The situation is that there is no automatic fuel measuring machine. meters are not set. Diesel is pumped out from the bucket when it is high or low, while Reliance Depot on the other hand has hi-tech safety equipment.
He warned that if the manager was not removed, the union would not allow the supply.
Official statement issued by Bharat Petroleum Management stated that injured six crew members and one contract worker of three tankers were provided with best possible medical treatment while the staff present on the spot brought the fire under control with the immediate available resources.
We are making every effort to provide the best possible medical aid to the injured. The incident is being investigated. We will give the report only after investigation.
Interestingly it was claimed that world class safety standards have been implemented in the depot. A month and a half ago, there was an audit about its safety.