Korangi Creek blaze reignited as a safety measure, says official

A mysterious fire that erupted near an oil refinery in Korangi Creek during deep digging for a project on March 29 extinguished by itself on early Tuesday morning, but the emitting of gas prompted the experts to initiate what officials called “controlled reignition” to ensure “safe and managed burning for human safety”.

Korangi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Masood Bhutto told Dawn.com after the blazed snuffed out, he visited the site along with representatives from Pakistan Refinery Limited, Pakistan Petroleum Limited, and Sui Southern Gas Company as well as technical staff from the chief fire officer of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to assess the situation.

“A thorough examination of the area was subsequently carried out by relevant agencies and technical experts, who reported that there is a strong odour of hydrogen sulfide is still present at the site and its concentration near the well was recorded at 20ppm,” he added.

“Exposure to hydrogen sulfide at this level can cause eye irritation, nausea, dizziness, breathing difficulties, coughing and headaches.”

The Korangi administration official said that based on the detailed assessment and consensus of the technical team and experts, a host of safety measures have been recommended and are being implemented.

One such measure was the “controlled re-ignition of the gas to ensure safe and managed burning”.

DC Bhutto said other steps being implemented included temporary closure of the nearby Salim Habib University as a precautionary measure, restriction of public access to the affected area and deployment of fire brigade vehicles at the site for standby support.

The official said the varsity would remain closed till April 21 in order to protect students from personal hazardous effects and to prevent any untoward incident.

The Korangi DC said he also personally visited the site, and the exposure had caused burning sensation in his eyes. Quoting experts, he said if hydrogen sulfide is increased to a certain level, it may become fatal to human life.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaan Khan also told Dawn the experts have reignited the fire as part of safety measures.

Earlier in the day, the residents of the area took a sigh of relief when the fire completely extinguished on its own.

Khan had said that the intensity of the flames started receding on late Monday night, and the fire disappeared at around 4am.

The huge flames erupted during the drilling of a housing project late last month and continued to rage for 18 days.

A day earlier, the Sindh chief secretary’s spokesperson said that the government would consult American experts to help extinguish the fire after an inspection of the site revealed that its intensity had not decreased.

He said that during inspection, it was observed that the borehole had further expanded due to the volume of gas, and hot water continued to leak.

Last week, the federal government also constituted a committee of experts to conduct a detailed technical investigation to assess the cause and extent of the blaze.

Fire incidents are common in the metropolis due to the absence of adequate fire safety measures in buildings.

On Thursday, a huge fire broke out in a factory inside the Export Processing Zone located in Landhi Industrial Area Extension.

Last year, the KMC informed the Sindh High Court that it had conducted a fire safety audit of over 265 commercial buildings, and not a single one was found to have a fire safety certificate or a no-objection certificate (NOC) issued by the fire brigade department.

Out of 265 buildings, around 155 did not have fire alarms and smoke detectors installed, while the status of nine such buildings was not available in this respect, the KMC report added. Similarly, the condition of the wiring and electric system of over 155 buildings was termed unsatisfactory. Regarding access to firefighting equipment, the report said that around 200 buildings had no or unsatisfactory firefighting equipment.

The SHC had directed provincial authorities to ensure that relevant teams inspect all shopping malls in the city to ascertain safety standards in place.