A fire incident today took place in one of the crude processing units of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited’s Visakhapatnam Refinery at 3pm. As per an official statement by HPC, safety measures and firefighting was activated immediately.

At the time of writing, the fire has been extinguished. "There is no casualty and no risk to the public. Other refinery operations are normal," the statement said.

The HPCL iterated that all people are accounted and are safe. "Except the particular unit where the fire occurred, all other process units of Visakh Refinery are operating normally," it added.

Soon after the fire broke, district fire engines were reportedly rushed to the accident spot without losing time. Although early reports claimed that a life was lost, the latest statement by official sources puts the record straight.

Experts from the Indian Navy also reached the spot in no time. Although national media reports said that six workers are missing, there is no truth in the same.