Jaipur:
Six people killed, another six missing and 150 injured. And yet, the fire at Jaipur's Indian Oil Corporation depot blazes away, an entire 36 hours after it began.
The gigantic flames have been contained within the depot's premises, but all 12 containers have exploded, so the fire is expected to last for another day. There are, after all, 80 lakh litres of petroleum products fueling the fire.
The government has ordered an enquiry, but many experts say large parts of this tragedy have been caused by serious safety violations.
For one thing, neither the local police nor the fire department was informed of the fire for over an hour after it began. The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) says the fire was caused after a valve in a pipeline failed, and petrol spilled out while being transferred. Also, the two fire hydrants at the Depot did not have a single drop of water.
The Petroleum Minister says it's too early to assign blame.
"I won't say anything even if I know something. Our enquiry committee will go into the reasons why this fire happened. We'll also try to find out corrective measures to prevent such tragedies in future," says Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora.
There's also the very real fear of confronting more lives lost when the flames die down. "There may be people inside. So we may even have to do some rescue and relief operations, salvage whatever we can," admits S Behuria, IOC chairman.