Ranchi: The tanker fire on NH-33, that raged for nearly 24 hours through Monday night leading to the closure of the Ranchi-Ramgarh stretch for a little less than two days, could have been avoided had Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) managed to seal leaks and arranged to tow it away from the busy highway.
Since that was not done, the only other option was to allow the LPG to burn itself out while the road was kept out of bounds for vehicles. "It was a calculated decision," state fire officer R.K. Thakur told The Telegraph on Wednesday afternoon when the Chutupalu valley was opened to traffic, more than 40 hours after an accident involving three vehicles led to an inferno that injured 20 people and charred as many as seven vehicles.
Asked why despite pressing nine fire tenders, six to begin with, the tanker fire could not be doused, Thakur blamed it on the leaks that could not been sealed by IOC technicians.
"LPG is 1.3 times heavier than air. Only water can control it. We could have doused it in no time. But after initial efforts we realised it won't work unless leakages were blocked. But IOCL officials explained to us that since the leaks were from the body of the tanker that had got punctured they could not seal them. If it was the tanker's nozzle, they would have easily plugged it," Thakur said.
Hence, the only option was to allow the gas to burn out. "We kept spraying water on the tanker to ensure that it did not blow up due to overheating," he added.
Thakur maintained that had IOCL been more prompt and arranged to tow the tanker away, the injuries and damage to vehicles could have been avoided.
"Soon after we got information that the tanker had overturned on Monday morning, we deputed a fire tender there by 12 noon. Had it been removed to a safer place, it would not have led to the fire at night as a result of the second accident involving a trailer, truck and bus," he said.
Traffic was restored on Chutupalu valley at 4pm on Wednesday. Ramgarh SP A Vijaya Laxmi said work to clear the road of debris began after the tanker fire was put out late on Tuesday night. "Things are under control now," she said.
An official of the district administration who was on-site said three big cranes and 100 workers were pressed into service to clear the debris of the charred vehicles, namely, two cars, a bike, a truck, trailer, tanker and bus.
Ramgarh SDPO Radha Prem Kishore, who was also present, said one part of the road was cleared early morning, but they chose not allow traffic so as not hamper the remaining clean-up operation. Various stretches of NH-33, from Ranchi towards Ramgarh, Dhanbad and Bokaro, were choc-a-block with traffic that barely crawled. Trucks weren't allowed on the Ranchi-Sikdri route that was used to bypass Chutupalu valley.
Traffic jams were also reported on the Ranchi-Patratu road.
"In areas like Khelgaon and Vikas, trucks were made to halt. But other vehicles like passenger buses, ambulances and milk vans were allowed to go via Sikdri. This drill was followed on the Ramgarh side too. The idea was to lessen the load on that route which is also through a valley," he said.
