For the third consecutive day on Wednesday since the massive blaze at an Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) depot near here started showing signs of dying out,the Rajasthan government said the fire would be extinguished within 24 hours. The fire that has claimed 11 lives started on October 29. Senior state government officials said two of the 11 containers at the IOC depot still contained fuel and would burn out in another days time even as fire fighters began preparing for the third consecutive day for a possible ground fire. There is some fuel left in one of the containers and flames from another container have all but died out. It will be another day before the fuel burns out and fire fighters can move in, said a senior official. The state government has repeatedly claimed,since Sunday,that the fire will be extinguished "within 24 hours. After flames were visible in only two containers on Tuesday evening,the officials again claimed that the crisis would be over by Wednesday. The government also does not seem to have a clear-cut idea of exact amount of fuel stored in the depot at the time the fire broke out. According to sources,the depot contained 33,500 kilolitre (kl) motor spirit,54,000 kl High Speed Diesel and 13,500 kl kerosene. In all,the blaze when eventually extinguished,would have consumed close to 1,01,000 kl of fuel. Meanwhile,the fire fighters on Wednesday stayed prepared for a ground fire after reports that the last container,which still contains thousands of litres of fuel,could possible sustain structural damage and buckle over,spilling the fuel and spreading flames across the IOC premises. Rajasthan Home Secretary Pradeep Sen said this was the worst-case scenario. This is why a trench has been dug around the IOC complex to prevent the flames from spreading out. Fire tenders have been placed all around the depot to prevent and control just such an incident, Sen said.
