Mathura (UP), Nov 13 (PTI) A day after a blaze at the Indian Oil Corporation refinery here, a senior official Wednesday said a preliminary probe has found that a valve malfunctioned, leading to hydrocarbons mixing with steam that caused a flash fire in which eight people were injured.
Refinery officials claimed it was not an explosion as some news reports suggested but a flash fire that caused burn injuries.
Renu Pathak, a senior manager of the refinery's corporate communications department, said a committee was being formed to probe the cause of the fire. The composition of the probe team would be finalised once senior officials arrive here from the headquarters, she said.
"Preliminary findings indicate that the malfunction of a non-return valve in the crude distillation unit allowed hydrocarbons to mix with steam, triggering the flash fire," Pathak said.
On Tuesday she said the fire broke out after an explosion in the atmospheric vacuum unit of the main plant that was being restarted after a month-and-a-half shutdown for maintenance work.
While officials claimed on Tuesday that 12 people were injured, a day later they said eight workers suffered injuries in the incident and were being treated at various hospitals.
Junior engineering assistant Irfan (32), shift in-charge Rajiv Kumar (33) and contractual worker Santosh (32) have been sent to the Apollo Hospitals in Delhi, while Samir Srivastav (57) and Moolchand (58) were admitted to the refinery hospital as they had less severe injuries, Pathak said.
Satyavan (33), Harendra (26), and Mukesh (45) were admitted to Metro Hospital in Faridabad, she said, adding doctors have reported that all the injured are in stable condition and are being closely monitored.
"Despite the fire, the plant's operations remained unaffected. The blaze was swiftly brought under control by the refinery's own fire tenders, with no external assistance required," Pathak added.
District Magistrate Shailendra Singh said the district administration was in constant contact with the refinery authorities to assess the situation and ensure that appropriate measures were taken.