KARACHI: At least two workers were killed and several others injured as a huge fire erupted following an explosion inside a storage tank at the Keamari Oil Terminal on Saturday.

Eyewitnesses at the boat harbour at Keamari said they saw everything while boarding people on their boats for crabbing as many arrive for picnics through the weekend. “At around 11.30am, there were two men on top of the chemical tank near Gate 1 when the explosion took place,” boatman Ali Mohammad told Dawn. “They had opened the tank lid when there was a loud explosion throwing both of them up in the air. They died almost immediately,” he said. “Some seven to eight men around the tank were also injured,” he added.

“We saw smoke coming out the place for a long time after that. From the colour of the smoke it was evident that it was not an oil fire because then the smoke is black. This had to be a chemical tank,” said another boatman, Bilal, who had also been there around the time of the incident.

Soon after the incident, Karachi Port Trust and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation fire tenders rushed to the spot but it could not be completely extinguished even till late in the evening. “It is under control now but not completely extinguished,” said Adbul Nasir a KMC fireman near Gate 1 of the Oil Terminal. “It was a chemical fire, methanol actually, and we used foam to extinguish it. But frankly, until the entire chemical burns out, the fire cannot be put out completely,”he said.

Both Gate no 1 at Keemari and no 2 at Shireen Jinnah Colony were closed for the public to pass through while firefighters doused the flames inside. Some of the men trying to go inside from Gate 2 said they were oil tanker drivers and tankers were still parked inside. “We must go inside but they have shut the gates and are not letting anyone through,” said a tanker driver.

With the gates closed there was also confusion about details coming from inside. A Byco employee, who did not want to be named, said five men, including two officers, had died in the accident. “It was a methanol tank,” he confirmed. Some people said the bulk storage tank belonged to Pakistan State Oil while others said it was an RCL tank.

The PSO, however, clarified later that the tank did not belong to it.

“There was another terrible accident at a Shell tank only three days ago, where one labourer received severe burn injuries,” the Byco employee said. “That fire broke out at 6am. This one was at 11.30am.”

However, Jackson SHO Rao Khalid said one worker identified as Arif Aslam, 26, died while another, Tahir, was missing and believed dead though his body could not be found.

According to senior medico-legal officer of the Civil Hospital Karachi Dr Qarar Ahmed, Arif died from wounds caused by hard metal pieces after the explosion in a chemical tank.

“It is not possible to put out the fire till the chemical in the storage tank burns out,” said Karachi Port Trust fire chief Saeed Jadoon.Talking to the media, he said the firemen were trying to prevent the fire from spreading to other oil storage tanks there.

He said at least 10 fire tenders belonging to the KPT, Pakistan Navy and KMC were trying to extinguish the blaze. “Two persons have died in the fire incident,” said Mr Jadoon.

He said the height of the storage tank was around 60 feet, having a capacity of storing around 1,400 tonnes of liquid. At the time of the fire, the tank had about 1,000 tonnes chemical.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2016