Mangaluru : One contract worker was charred to death and 12 others sustained injuries following a fire and a blast at a processing unit of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), 20km from here, around Wednesday noon.
Mangaluru City police commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy CH said Manish Karkada, 23, from Mulki, was reported missing from the plant soon after the blast. MRPL’s emergency response and firefighting teams, along with fire tenders from Mangaluru, brought the fire under control at 2.47pm.
The incident took place when the Coker Hydrotreater Unit suddenly exploded, according to a complaint filed with Surathkal police. Rudolph VJ Noronha, chief general manager (corporate branding and corporate communications), MPRL, said the incident involved rupture of a cold separator operating at high pressure at MRPL, resulting in the fire. He was found dead hours later during a post-blast inspection and combing operation. Machinery and components were reportedly blown apart, while flames spread through the surrounding area. Those staying in the outer fringes of Mangaluru claimed their houses shook, doors and windows rattled in the impact of the explosion. Surathkal police have registered an FIR, which names the head of the affected unit and the chief of MRPL as accused. The battery limits of the affected unit were immediately isolated.