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= Chala LPG Tanker Disaster = The Chala tanker disaster was a Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) road transport accident that occurred on 12 August 2012 on Indian National Highway 17 (now NH 66) at Chala in Kannur District in Kerala State. It is considered as the worst hazardous material road transport accident in India in terms of casualties. The accident occurred when Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) operated LPG road tank truck hit a road lane divider, overturned and exploded, setting of several building fires between 9:30 PM and 11 PM. The accident caused death of 20 people and injured another 15 people.

Background
Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) is a diversified, integrated energy major with presence in all the streams of oil, gas and petrochemicals. https://iocl.com/home.aspx

IOCL transports Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) produced in its refineries to cylinder filling facilities through terrestrial pipelines, railway tank trains and road tank trucks. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) owned cylinder bottling plant in Chelari in Kozhikode district in Kerala receives LPG through road tank trucks from Mangalore LPG Import Facility (MLIF) owned by IOCL situated 264km away in Karnataka state.[3]

The LPG tankers with driver are supplied by contractors. Safety of transportation and emergency is managed by IOCL. Bullet shaped tanks mounted on trailer trucks normally have 17-ton LPG capacity in three compartments [1] [12]. Petroleum Rules 1976 require petroleum transportation vehicles to have license from Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO) [16] [12].

National Highways in India are constructed and maintained by National Highway Authority of India (NHIA) and State Public Works Department.{ "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ {     "type": "Feature", "properties": {}, "geometry": { "type": "Point", "coordinates": [ 75.42829227432777,         11.848513419700142        ]      }    }  ] }

Accident
On August 12, 2012 between 09:30 PM and 10:00 PM LPG truck coming from Mangalore to Chelari filling station of IOCL in Kozhikode district hit concrete road divider and overturned near Chala temple bus stop between Kannur and Thalasseri towns.

The lane division was installed to segregate traffic in opposite directions. Concrete divider started at Chala temple bus stop - where the descend from hill levelled off - and extended 200 meters up to next junction. The divider was constructed by fixing 50 cm high concrete blocks along the center line. The dividers painted white and black strips [4] were blackened with vehicle exhausts. The concrete lane divider in Chala did not have warning sign installed on it to indicate start of division or presence of obstruction in the middle of the road. In Kannur August night temperature is normally between 25 oC to 28oC and humidity is above 80%. Mild rain was present during the time of accident. There were a few one and two storied commercial buildings north side of highway and several houses on both side. Nearest house was within 20m of highway.

After overturning tank drain valve of one of the tank compartments started leaking [2]. The land on south side is 2-3 meter and east side is 1 meter below the highway. The leaked heavy gas flowed for 170 meters through irrigation water canal parallel to the street on south side of highway. This street connected the houses in coconut palm groves on southside with highway.

The driver was able to exit the cabin [13] and alert nearby residences before ignition. Most of persons living around the accident spot evacuated their homes, move away for some distance and stood on the street along the water canal.

Explosions and Fire
First ignition occurred 20 minutes after overturning of the truck [2]. This was a flash fire explosion in the gas spread around the overturned truck, in water canal and in low-lying area on south side. The gas settled in the canal is said to have burnt for 1 to 2 minutes. Persons who evacuated their houses but stood on the streets on south and north side of the highway suffered burn injury from the flash fire explosion that they haven’t expected. After the first explosion the fire subsided to a jet fire at leaking portion of overturned bullet tank. During this period the neighborhood have attempted search and rescue in fire impacted houses.

10 minutes after first explosion and fire, the LPG bullet tank ruptured causing a more severe second explosion [13]. This explosion formed huge fire balls and half piece of the burning tank rocketed upward, flew over the coconut groves and fell 270 meters away. Burnt marks were visible on the trees along the flight path of rocketed tank piece, indicating the compartment was possibly spilling fuel.

The fire damaged 20 houses and 23 shops [3]. 7 houses suffered severe fire and explosion damage necessitating demolition. 11 vehicles were gutted in fire [7].

Fire tenders of Kerala State Fire and Rescue services approached the accident site after the second explosion. 5 fire tenders from Kannur (7km) and Thalasseri (15km) fire stations attended the incident.

Casualties
Most of the victims suffered burn from the first flash fire explosion. These victims were those people who evacuated their houses but stood on the streets on south and north side of the highway at some distance. They managed to flee the fire site and were rescued outside fire area. There was no injury due to consequent building fires. Five people remained inside the house after first blast and escaped unhurt from the zone of accident before second blast [1] [9].

20 victims died due to burn injury in various hospitals in a period between 24 hours to 30 days from the time of incident [1] [7]. Dr. Promod Kumar have documented the medical management of the victims of Chala disaster in Kasturba Hospital in Manipal. See ''Kumar P. Fire disaster following LPG tanker explosion at Chala in Kannur Burns. 2013 Nov;39(7):1479-87. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2013.04.004. Epub 2013 Apr 29. PMID: 23639222''.

Crisis Management
The tragedy caused local uproar and protest against government officials who visited the accident site. State Chief Minister during his visit ordered removal of the road divider involved. This action was later criticized as destruction of evidence [4].

Chief minister Shri. Oommen Chandy, his ministerial colleagues and Leader of Opposition Shri. V.S.Achuthanandan visited the accident spot, the injured in hospital and the houses of those who died. Shri. V.S. Achuthanandan demanded that murder cases be filed against IOCL.

Several voluntary social organizations worked in the area helping restoration of the houses and rehabilitation of traumatized families.

Protest and blockade of LPG trucks occurred in several parts of the district for few months. People demanded ending of LPG transport on roads in the state and manhandled truck drivers. In response Southern Region Bulk LPG Transport Owners’ Association called strike in September 2012 [8].

IOCL paid compensation of Rs.1 million (USD 14K) to each deceased [9].

Investigation
Report of investigation conducted by IOCL is not publicly available. Enquiries conducted by District Collector and State Government is accessible to public.

In press conferences after the accident Chief Minister of Kerala Shri. Oommen Chandy stated improper design of concrete lane divider as a significant cause of the disaster [5]. Asianet News reported tiredness of lone driver and absence of illumination lamp posts as other potential causes [5]. Shri. M. Ponnambalam, President of Southern Region Bulk LPG Transport Owners’ Association said that the accident happened due to bad roads and driving through Kannur’s bad roads was a nightmare [8].

22 people gave statement in magisterial enquiry conducted by Kannur District Collector Shri. Rathan Kelkar. The owner of the shop near accident site stated in the enquiry that there had been no reflector on the road divider and that the divider was not visible at night due to poor lighting. In the same enquiry Public Works Department (PWD) official concerned stated that sign board warning was present. [4]. Nonconformance by LPG truck contractors to IOCL requirement for two drivers in each LPG truck was also said to have contributed to the accident.

Improvements to LPG trucks
IOCL announced that LPG trucks would be fitted with excess flow valve inside the tank on drain line. IOCL also announced its intention to enforce requirement for two drivers for each LPG truck. [9]