Assam Oil India explosion toll rises to three, three workers critical

• Three people have died following Friday’s explosion and fire at Oil India’s Tengakhat facility in Assam.

• An engineer and a contractor’s worker died on Saturday; three injured workers remain critical.

• OIL announces compensation, while Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal calls for a high-level inquiry.

Two more people died on Saturday from burns sustained in an explosion at Oil India Limited’s facility in Assam’s Dibrugarh district, taking the death toll to three, officials said.

Engineer Tapas Jyoti Gogoi died at a private hospital in Dibrugarh, while Rupam Gohain, a worker employed by OIL contractor Spectron Engineering Private Limited, succumbed at a hospital in Guwahati.

Raju Dutta had died on Friday following the incident. Three other injured workers remain in critical condition, an official said.

The explosion occurred during maintenance work at OIL’s Intermediate Tank Farm in Tengakhat on Friday and was followed by a fire, according to the public sector company. Such facilities temporarily store petroleum products before they are moved for processing or transportation.

OIL said nine workers were at the site when the accident occurred and seven sustained injuries, including the worker who died on Friday.

The injured were initially taken to Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh. Gogoi was subsequently moved to a private hospital in the town, while Gohain was transferred to Guwahati as his condition deteriorated.

OIL area manager Kamal Phukan confirmed Gogoi’s death on Saturday. His elder brother said the engineer had suffered approximately 70 per cent burns and died at around 3 am.

A resident of N Gali in Dibrugarh’s Milan Nagar, Gogoi had worked with the company for 13 years. He is survived by his parents, wife and daughter.

OIL announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each person killed and Rs 5 lakh to each injured person.

The company said Union Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were closely monitoring the situation.

Sonowal, the Lok Sabha MP for Dibrugarh, spoke to OIL chairman and managing director Ranjit Rath and sought an update on the injured workers and the response to the accident.

He urged the company to arrange the best available medical care without delay and provide appropriate compensation to the bereaved families, according to an OIL release.

The minister also called for a high-level inquiry to establish the precise cause of the fire and examine all circumstances surrounding the incident.

With PTI inputs