Death toll rises to two in Assam Oil India facility explosion
An engineer died from burn injuries following a Friday explosion during maintenance work at a petroleum storage facility in Dibrugarh.
The death toll from an explosion at an Oil India Limited (OIL) facility in Assam's Dibrugarh district has risen to two, according to reports from BusinessLine and ThePrint. An engineer died from burn injuries at a private hospital on Saturday, according to officials.
The explosion occurred on Friday during maintenance work at the OIL Intermediate Tank Farm in Tengakhat. A fire broke out at the facility, which is used to temporarily store petroleum products, following the blast, a statement from the public sector undertaking (PSU) said.
The second fatality was identified as Tapas Jyoti Gogoi, an employee of Spectron Engineering Private Limited, a company engaged by OIL. Area manager Kamal Phukan confirmed the death on Saturday. Gogoi, a resident of Milan Nagar in Dibrugarh, had sustained approximately 70 per cent burns.
The first person to die on Friday was identified as Raju Dutta. Of the nine workers present at the site during the accident, seven sustained injuries. Officials stated that three of the injured workers remain in critical condition.
The injured workers were initially taken to Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) in Dibrugarh before being moved to a private healthcare facility. Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has urged OIL to provide medical assistance, compensate the families of the victims, and investigate the cause of the explosion.