Mumbai: A diesel tank on Butcher Island that caught fire on Friday due to a suspected lightning strike continued to burn on Saturday. The 30,000-kilolitre tank, belonging to Bharat Petroleum and situated on a tank farm on the island off the city’s east coast, will burn till all the fuel is consumed, officials said.
Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) spokesperson Rajendra Paibir said the tank contained high speed diesel. “The indicator on the tank that displays the quantity of diesel left in it seems to be out of order, and BPCL officers are trying to gauge the level using infrared devices. The heat and smoke are proving to be deterrents.”
He said the diesel is being slowly drained back to the refinery, but this has to be done carefully while the oil at the top is burning. Spraying water is not an option as water, being heavier than oil, could sink to the bottom, enter the pumps and end up getting mixed with the oil in the refinery. “The only option is to let the diesel burn out and keep the site as cool as possible. We are spraying water on the other tanks to keep them cool and undamaged by the heat from the burning tank nearby, which is quite high.”
Lightning strike
Several workers on Butcher Island, also known as Jawahar Dweep, blamed lightning for the fire that started around 5 p.m. on Friday, Port Trust officials said. They said workers leaving the island at the end of their shift reported hearing a loud noise accompanied by lightning, and smoke rising from the top of the tank, which is around 40 metres in height. By the time they were close enough to investigate, the fire had already started.
A control room has been set up at the site to monitor operations, and officials from MbPT, BPCP and the Mumbai Fire Brigade are at the site, while tanks in the immediate vicinity of the one on fire have been drained. Inflammable material is also being taken off the island by boat. Officials said they expect the fire to burn out by midnight.