At least seven injured in BPCL oil depot blast near Bhopal

Seven persons were injured, two of them seriously, in a blast that occurred when petrol was being filled in the container of a tanker at a Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited's (BPCL) depot on the outskirts of Bhopal, an official said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday evening at the oil depot located in Bakania area, Khajuri police station in-charge Sandhya Mishra said. The "unexpected fire" was being investigated, BPCL said in a statement later.

"Seven persons were injured in the blast. While six of them are either drivers or helpers of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) who were there to get fuel filled in their tankers, one is an employee of BPCL," she said. Two of them were seriously injured and undergoing treatment at a private hospital, Mishra added. While the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, the police official said a short-circuit could be the reason.

In a statement, the state-run BPCL said, "An unexpected fire occurred at our POL Depot at Bakania near Bhopal on October 21 at around 7:30 pm during a tank lorry filling. Immediate action was taken by the staff members present and the fire was extinguished quickly with the available resources.

"Six crew personnel of the three tank lorries of Hindustan Petroleum, which were being loaded, and one contractor employee were injured in the incident and were immediately shifted to the hospital where they are receiving medical treatment," the statement added. It was committed to high safety standards in operations and Friday's incident was being investigated, it said.