BELGAUM: Two train wagons carrying 1.5 lakh litres of petrol burst into flames in a major fire in Belgaum on Saturday, while oil was being unloaded through pipes from the wagons at Bharat Petroleum Depot at Desur, 15 kms from Belgaum city and about 500 metres from the busy Belgaum-Panjim highway NH4A.
Traffic along the Belgaum-Panjim highway was halted for over an hour due to the incident, while about 4,000 people from neighbouring villages, including the office staff of the depot, were evacuated from the radius of one km from depot, which has several petrol and diesel reservoirs.
According to reports, the incident took place as a train carrying oil wagons entered the depot and was in the process of unloading the petrol through pipes at the depot.
According to sources, a spark during the detachment of a wagon resulted in the fire and flammable substances burst into flames. The flames and smoke could be seen from a huge distance.
It took more than five hours for a large number of fire brigades to douse the fire even as a thick smoke continued to hamper the process. Each of the wagons carried by the trains has a capacity of 75,000 litres of petrol.
Even as the depot was equipped with facilities to avoid fire mishaps, it took some time for the fire tenders to rush to the spot by which time the fire had already engulfed from one wagon to another.
A large number of people from surrounding areas rushed to the spot to help authorities fight the fire. A team of Belgaum police also rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation and a case has been registered by the police.
According to authorities, the depot never suffered such incidents in the past as it gets huge amount of petrol on a regular basis. An investigation has been launched to find out what lapses caused the major fire mishap.
