Toll in explosion at OIL facility in Assam rises to two

Dibrugarh, Nov 7 (PTI) The toll in an explosion at Oil India Limited's facility in Assam's Dibrugarh district rose to two, with an engineer succumbing to his burn injuries at a private hospital here, officials said.

    A fire broke out on Friday during maintenance work at the OIL's Intermediate Tank Farm in Tengakhat, following the explosion, according to a statement issued by the PSU.

    An Intermediate Tank Farm is a facility where petroleum products are temporarily stored in tanks before being transferred for further processing or transportation.

    The death of Tapas Jyoti Gogoi, who had been employed by Spectron Engineering Private Limited, a company engaged by Oil India Ltd, was confirmed by its area manager Kamal Phukan on Saturday.

    Gogoi, a resident of N Gali in Milan Nagar of Dibrugarh, was among the six workers who sustained burn injuries in the explosion.

    The injured workers were initially taken to Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH), Dibrugarh, and were subsequently shifted to a private healthcare facility here.

    Gogoi, who had sustained around 70 per cent burns, succumbed to his injuries at around 3 am on Saturday, his elder brother said.

    He had been working with the company for the past 13 years.

    He is survived by his parents, wife and a daughter.

    Three of the injured workers remain in critical condition, the officials said.

    A total of nine workers were present at the site when the accident occurred on Friday, and seven of them sustained injuries, with one of the injured workers succumbing to his injuries, an official statement said.

    The person who died on Friday was identified as Raju Dutta.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)