--This tanker has 18 metric tonnes of gas. It has liquid gas at the bottom while gas in vapour form was available at its top.
-- It had 3 valves of 2 inches, each. As soon as the incident happened, the first 'vapour valve' from the cabin of the tanker was completely broken. The second valve was bent while the safety cover of the third valve was broken.
- Because of this, gas started coming out. The rotogage, which shows the quantity of liquid gas in the tanker, was also broken.
- Experts from industries rushed towards the spot for help and decided to transfer gas through a high-pressure hose pipe. However, the pipe of the required length was not available in the district. Amit Dagade of Mutual Aid Response Group (MARG) contacted five to six companies.
Only Bajaj Auto Company had a three-meter-long pipe available. However, it was not enough. The company made available another three-meter-long pipe.
-It was found that the necessary connector to connect the pipes was missing. Bajaj Auto Company also provided connectors with its two experts.
- By that time, the rescue team of Bharat Petroleum had left Jalgaon for the city.
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Back drain valve opened
--Finally, the two pipes were connected at 1 pm. The speed of spraying water was increased. The process of gas transfer began. However, when the capacity of the valve increased, there was a problem. As the rotogage was broken, it was difficult to understand the amount of gas.
- The company officials decided to open the rear drain valve of the tanker. After opening it, the tanker became empty in the next 5 minutes.
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MARG took significant path
--The Directorate of Industrial Safety Department was informed about the incident at 6 am. It contacted Amit Dagade, head of 'MARG (Mutual Aid Response Group), an organisation working on disaster management. Dagde contacted the disaster management experts of around eight companies and they reached the spot.
Dagade along with Anil Pawar, Vijay Sonwane, Gajanan Wagh and Mahesh Raut from Greaves Cotton Pvt Ltd, Sudarshan Sangle and Satish Sangle from Sterlite Technologies Ltd, Anil Nalawde from Wockhardt Company, S M Birajdar and Shyam Sundar from Bajaj Auto Pvt, Mahesh Bhalekar of Industrial Safety, Dheeraj Khirodkar and Prashant Khirodkar from Linde India Pvt played a vital role in the relief operation.