KARACHI: Two people were burned to death while three others sustained injuries when massive fire erupted inside Shell Pakistan's Terminal-1 at Keamari here on Thursday, police said.
A spokesperson for Shell Pakistan Limited said, "A 20-inch diameter PSO import line passing inside Shell Pakistan's terminal 1 at Keamari caught fire."
The SHO of Jackson, Inspector Adil, while talking to the Business Recorder, identified the deceased as Shahid and Shaleh Muhammad, who were employees of another private company.
They were busy doing some work at the gate of the terminal when they met with the accident. The cause of the fire could not be determined till the filing of this report. The SHO said investigations in this regard were underway.
Nearly a dozen fire tenders of the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation took part in the operation to douse the fire. The operation continued for many hours as the intensity of the fire was huge.
The deceased and the injured were moved to the Burns Centre at the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi for medico-legal formalities and treatment.
Shell Pakistan Ltd said that maintenance and safety standards compliant to key oil pipelines is crucial. It is important to realize that compliance is priority for safety and sustainable infrastructure.
Pakistan being an import reliant country, it needs to ensure the most stringent of compliance in terms of pipelines for the fuel supply coming into Karachi, and Shell Pakistan is willing to support all the stakeholders in this regard so that such unfortunate incidents can be avoided.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020