Major fire breaks out in biodiesel godown at Kamrej

Surat: A major fire broke out following a huge blast at the biodiesel godown at Jay Gogha industrial estate in Kamrej taluka’s Navi Pardi village on Saturday. One person received serious burns injuries, while another escaped with minor injuries. The victims were Bhairav Singh Rawat, 38, and Bhavesh Atta, 25. Rawat has sustained 78% burns injuries and was admitted to a private hospital in Surat.
The incident occurred when the two workers were filling biodiesel in plastic drums. There was a blast due to a short-circuit in the electric motor being used for pumping biodiesel into the drums.
About six fire tenders from Kamrej, Bardoli and Surat were rushed to the spot to douse the major fire. It took about five hours for firefighters to extinguish the fire
Kamrej fire department sources said there was a huge underground tank for biodiesel storage.
Pravin Patel, fire officer of Kamrej fire department, said, “There was a huge blast at the biodiesel godown due to an electric spark in the pumping motor. We don’t know the storage capacity of the underground tank, but it took about five hours for us to extinguish the fire. Since the industrial estate lacked water facility, we had to draw water from nearby canal.”