THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police special team formed to probe the massive blaze that devoured a plastic manufacturing unit at Manvila on Wednesday night will seek expert opinion of the Indian Oil Corporation and BPCL-Kochi Refinery during the course of the investigation.
The decision was taken on the basis of the understanding the petroleum companies will be better able to explain technical things like flammability of plastic, the time taken for gutting, etc.
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Deputy Police Commissioner R Adithya, who is heading the special team, said the technical matters related to the investigation mandate help of experts. “The inflammability capacity, chemicals that are being used, the time taken for combustion, the cause of fire, etc. can be revealed if expert opinion is sought,” he said.
The police team will also go through the reports filed by the Fire and Rescue Services Department and Department of Electrical Inspectorate to get a clear picture of what went wrong at the manufacturing unit. Adithya said the probe will be time-consuming as they have to get all the reports from various government agencies. “It’s a long job,” he said.
Meanwhile, the police’s Forensic Department on Friday conducted an inspection at the site and collected evidence. The procedure is expected to be over by Saturday. Pointing to the gravity of the incident, experts from the physics, chemistry and explosives wings of the Forensic Department are assisting the probe.
The massive fire that broke out on Wednesday night was doused only by Friday morning after firefighting units from Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kanyakumari districts toiled for hours. Family Plastics that owns the unit has reportedly suffered a loss of more than Rs 40 crore.
Meanwhile, the Pollution Control Board is learnt to have issued a notice to the company for failing to implement safety measures. The board members had visited the place the other day and assessed safety guidelines were not strictly adhered to. Board sources hinted there was a minor fire at the unit last week, but it was doused by the employees using fire extinguishers.