A major fire broke out on the premises of a naphtha cracker unit at the Haldia Petrochemicals (HPL) refinery in East Midnapore on Tuesday afternoon while contractual labourers were carrying out maintenance work.

Preliminary suspicion was that the fire started from oil accumulated in drain pipes at the plant.

There were no casualties in the blaze which was controlled only after fire tenders from adjoining refineries arrived.

Smoke rises from the HPL on Tuesday afternoon Telegraph picture

Local sources and employees said the fire occurred around 3pm while contractual labourers were carrying out maintenance work.

“In any case, production is halted at the moment. Roughly 1,000 temporary workers are assisting our staff in the upkeep and the maintenance of the refinery,” said an HPL official.

The on-duty workers said they had heard a “flash and a bang” and then witnessed a “tower of fire” near the naphtha cracker unit.

“Safety engineers moved us to secure areas immediately and we thank them that there were no casualties,” said worker Tarun Dhali.

HPL plant head Ashoke Kumar Ghosh told The Telegraph that they suspected oil accumulated in the drain pipes outside the naphtha cracker plant had caught fire. “However, we need to find out what sparked the fire,” he said.

Fire tenders from the nearby MCPI plant joined the HPL team to arrest the flames. Fire tenders from Mitsubishi and Indian Oil were also reportedly present. Both the HPL and the MCPI are owned by Purnendu Chatterjee of the TCG group.

“We will begin an investigation soon to find out the cause of the accident,” the HPL official said.

“No casualties have been reported. Investigations are underway. Prima facie it appears an area near the naphtha cracker unit caught fire. We will conduct a probe,” East Midnapore district superintendent of police Amarnath K. said.

In 2019, two employees had been killed and 15 injured when a fire had broken out at the same naphtha cracker unit.

The HPL is one of the largest manufacturers of polymers in India and the biggest in the east. It is owned mostly by The Chatterjee Group, while the Bengal government has a significant minority stake.