An inferno took grip of block number three of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited’s (Bhel’s) plant here this morning, raising questions on industrial safety measures in the government’s Navaratna company.
However no casualty has been reported so far though workers inside the premises told Business Standard that a worker received injuries and had been admitted to the nearby Kasturba Hospital. Officials have also confirmed that a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) staffer received minor injuries.
Black smoke from the huge fire was huge were seen from nearly 10 km away.
Bhel has temporarily closed transformer-testing activity in the plant. It took almost four hours for fire tenders of the CISF, Indian Oil Corporation, the municipal corporation and Bhopal airport to control the fire. A committee is to probe the incidence.
The fire, according to employees inside the Bhel premises at the time of incident, took place when a transformer that was being tested exploded. “Probably, a short circuit triggered the fire. The exact reasons will be ascertained after investigations. But the fire is under control,” Sanjay Kak, a spokesperson for Bhel, said.
BS Yadav, an employee who was in a nearby block, said, “I heard a blast and then saw flames. I and my fellow workers were asked to leave the block immediately. There must have been 800 employees in block number three when the incident took place at around 10.00am.”
Another employee, who was in the block where the fire occurred, said, “A tube connects a huge oil tank with the transformers which are placed for testing near it. There was a blast in the coil due to a short circuit that triggered a fire in the transformer and then the oil tank.”