Tengakhat Oil India fire: death toll rises to four

A fourth person has died after the fire at Oil India Limited's Intermediate Tank Farm at Tengakhat in Dibrugarh district, Northeast Live reported on Sunday afternoon.

The man has been identified as Sailen Gogoi, a resident of Padumoni village in Tengakhat. He had been under treatment at a private nursing home in Dibrugarh and was moved to ventilator support when his condition worsened. He died on Sunday. Three other people injured in the blaze are still in critical condition, according to the report.

Who has died so far

The fire broke out on the morning of Friday, November 6. Raju Dutta, who worked for a Mumbai-based private oil operating company, died on the day of the incident. Tapas Jyoti Gogoi died early on Saturday, and Rupam Gogoi, who had been shifted to Nemcare Hospital in Guwahati, died later the same day. Sailen Gogoi's death on Sunday takes the toll to four.

Most of the injured were first taken to Assam Medical College and Hospital in Dibrugarh before being moved to private hospitals for specialised burn care.

What Oil India has said

According to the company, the fire started at around 9 am at an indirect bath heater inside the tank farm while maintenance work was going on. OIL has said the heater area had been isolated from November 4 ahead of the scheduled work.

The company has announced ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the family of each person who died and Rs 5 lakh for each injured person. It has set up an internal inquiry committee to look into the immediate and underlying causes, assess the damage and suggest measures to prevent a repeat.

On Saturday, OIL suspended three officers and one employee in connection with the incident, as NEInsider reported earlier. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who represents Dibrugarh in the Lok Sabha, are said to be monitoring the situation.

The inquiry's findings have not yet been made public. NEInsider will update this story as more information comes from the company, the district administration or the hospitals treating the injured.