A huge fire destroyed a new lubricant blending plant at a major facility of the government-owned Pakistan State Oil, before it was extinguished by fire-fighters early yesterday.
Huge red flames and black smoke billowed from the Pakistan State Oil's (PSO) sprawling terminal, located near the country's biggest oil refinery in Korangi, for more than 10 hours in a fire that started at about midnight, fire fighters said.
Five firefighters were injured while trying to put out the flames, but all the PSO staff members were rescued, a senior official said.
"It is a massive blow," a PSO official said on condition of anonymity. "The plant was new and was installed only a few months ago," he said.
PSO's Managing Director Jalees Ahmad Siddiqui said investigations had been launched to find out the cause of the accident.
Three sections in the manufacturing plant were damaged, including a storage house for finished goods, he said.
About 100 fire fighter trucks, which included the Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy's experts, battled the flames which were seen from a distance of several kilometres.
Kazim Ali, the chief fire brigade official, said strong breeze hampered the operations.
"Thank God the fire did not reach a nearby residential settlement, Bilal Colony, which was located only at a distance of 1,000 yards," he said.
However, the major fire created a panic in the Korangi neighbourhood where sirens of fire engines and ambulances wailed all night.
Siddiqui said they ran another lubricant manufacturing terminal in Karachi and expressed confidence that oil supplies would not be affected.
PSO controls almost 70 per cent of Pakistan's petroleum marketing business.
Investigators believe stray fireworks from a nearby wedding ceremony set off the fire, a fire official said yesterday.
Gulf News
