Blast at crude oil storage project, 3 killed

MANGALORE: Three men, including a Korean national, died on the spot and four were injured, after the explosives stocked haphazardly exploded at the site of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited's (ISPRL) crude oil storage cavern project in Chandrahas Nagar in Mangalore Special Economic Zone Limited (MSEZL) on Thursday evening.The deceased were identified as Korean national Song, Sirajuddin a resident of Katipalla and the identity of another youth is being ascertained, Mangalore Assistant Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of District Disaster Management Plan (DDMP) Prabhuling Kavalkatti told Express.The injured, identified as Lawrence Katipalla of Katipalla, Srinath Vikram Jyothi Das of Uttar Pradesh and Sheik Ghani Mohammad of Bajpe were shifted to private hospitals in Mangalore. Their condition was reportedly serious.ISPRL chief manager S Vijayananda, who promised to furnish details about the explosion, was not available for comment. ISPRL chief executive officer Rajan K Pillai told Express that "something went wrong" while using explosives on the site.ISPRL's Mangalore cavern project, a joint venture with Korean company (SKEC KCT JV), is among the three other caverns being planned in India with a collective storage capacity of five million tonnes of crude oil.About 35 per cent of work on the threestage underground cavern project had been completed. Once completed, the underground caverns would store crude oil to meet the country's demand for 15 days in case of an emergency. Bajpe police have registered a case.