Air bubbles caused Koyli blast, says forensic team

Police waiting for final FSL report before taking action

The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has confirmed that the presence of air bubbles in slurry settler had led to the explosion in the cracker unit of the Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC's) Koyli refinery. The FSL team confirmed it in its final report submitted to the Vadodara city police.

In primary report, the FSL team had stated that the explosion in Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) took place owing to the creation of air bubble in slurry settler. At present, the FSL team is searching for the reason behind the creation of air bubble.

"We have received the final report on the explosion and expecting one more report in three-four days on the cause of creation of bubble. We will decide our further course of actions once we receive the report. Necessary actions will be taken if the FSL reports negligence as a cause of building of air column in the slurry settler," said Sudhir Sinha, Commissioner, Vadodara city police.

Earlier, Sinha had stated that IOC officials would be charged under IPC sections 304 (A) and 337 for negligent act resulting in death and injuries if negligence is proved.

On Thursday, V K Pande, IOC spokesperson told Business Standard: "We expect to restart the operations within 45 days from now. We are moving things slowly with precaution, as the non-functioning of the cracking unit is not going to disturb the production targets. The estimated loss according to primary reports by our technical team is about Rs 5-10 crore. The correct figure will be ascertained once the debris is removed and the final evaluation is done."

However, the FSL report and the version of Commissioner of Police contradict with the primary estimation done by IOC officials.

"The FSL report states that the FCCU has 'nearly destroyed' following the explosion. The damage can be estimated about Rs 1,000 crore," said Sinha. He said that IOC is undermining the amount of damage to avoid any trouble from higher authorities in Delhi.

Meanwhile, some more torn body parts have been found on Thursday from the debris. On the basis of identity card found from on one of the body, the dead person was identified as Budha Gohil from Bajwa village. It is believed that the body parts found earlier were of Jagdish Parmar who is reportedly missing after the explosion.

"We have decided to pay a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the families of each of the dead workers. The removal of debris is almost over and officials of the insurance company are doing their fieldwork. We do not expect any more report of causalities now," said Pande.