Hyderabad, May 12: In what could have been a major disaster, a petrol tanker went up in flames inside a petrol filling station at Alwal on Tuesday. Traffic came to a standstill and inmates of a nearby commercial complex had to be evacuated amid fears that the underground petrol storage tank might catch fire.
Apart from the oil tanker, three two-wheelers and the petrol dispensing machines on the premises were completely damaged in the mishap at the Satya petrol filling station.
A spark reportedly triggered the fire around 5.30 p.m. that soon engulfed the tanker making the panic-stricken staff and customers to flee. The flames spread to three bikes parked in the vicinity.
According to officials, a fire tender from MCEME rushed to the spot initially and tried to douse the flames using water. However, the fire intensified prompting the authorities to stop using water. Three more fire tenders from the city rushed to the spot and sprayed foam on the ground and also into the massive underground storage tank to check the spread of fire.
District fire officer P Deendayal told expresso that the fire started while petrol was being transferred from the tanker to the underground tank of the filling station.
“We got a call at 5:47 p.m that a petrol tanker had caught fire. Using the foam compounds we extinguished the fire and prevented it from further spreading into the underground tank. Only a minor volume of 20,000 litres stored in the petrol tanker got burnt,” Deendayal said.
It is suspected that static electricity might have sparked the fire. “The vehicle should be given earthing while unloading the fuel from the oil tanker to the storage tank. This might not have been done resulting in the flames,” an official said.
Officials are also suspecting whether the high temperature had caused the fuel to burn.
The incident gave some anxious moments to the people staying in the vicinity who gathered in large numbers at the spot. Police had to evacuate occupants of a nearby three-storied commercial complex even as the traffic on the road came to a standstill.
–Agencies