A fire erupted near an oil refinery in Karachi’s Korangi and efforts to extinguish it were under way, a statement by Rescue 1122 said on Saturday.

According to the statement, a fire broke out in a gas pipeline near the refinery.

“More than 20 fire brigade trucks from Rescue 1122, KMC and PRL are participating in the fire extinguishing process,” it added.

Sindh Rehabilitation Minister Makhdoom Mehboub Zaman instructed Rescue 1122 Director General (DG) Abid Jalaluddin Shaikh to remain in constant touch with his staff.

Zaman said that Rescue 1122 and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) personnel were continuously working to control the fire.

A statement issued by the Edhi Foundation said that an ambulance and volunteers were present on the site.

No casualties were reported in the incident. The fire continued to burn into the night and was still not extinguished by 9:50pm on Saturday.

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab said there was no loss of life or infrastructure.

“Since the last 20 hours, we have managed to contain the fire in the 100-metre radius,” he said, adding that the gas source was being ascertained.

The mayor said petroleum exploration experts had advised that the fire should be contained instead of extinguishing it. “No need to panic,” he added.

According to a statement issued by a spokesperson for the Korangi police, the fire broke out while drilling for groundwater in Korangi Creek.

Senior Superintendent of Police Korangi Tariq Nawaz along with Superintendent of Police Landhi and Zaman Town Station House Officer (SHO) Ghulam Nabi Afridi are present at scene.

The statement added that the intensity of the fire is gradually increasing, due to which the SHOs of all nearby police stations in Korangi district have been called to the scene along with additional personnel.

The cause of the fire is being investigated. The teams of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) are also present there.

The SSP Korangi is personally supervising the fire extinguishing process, the statement added.

So far, the fire was restricted in area of around 300 to 400 square yards and not spreading. As there are no human settlements there, no injuries to any person have been reported so far.

Rescue 1122 DG Shaikh told Dawn.com that KMC’s fire Brigade and oil refinery used massive quantities of water and foam but the fire could not be doused.

He added that the experts of the SSGC and the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) had conducted soil testing of the area and taken away samples — the results of which were expected within five to six hours to determine what was actually triggering the fire.

Shaikh also hinted at the possibility of “some pockets” of underground oil or gas that had emerged during the digging work in the coastal area for a housing scheme.

Zaman Town SHO told Dawn.com that the both the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited and PPL had said that they had no line belonging to them in the vicinity.

However, he added that there was an oil refinery line there — indicating the possibility of an underground reservoir of crude oil, which caught fire.

Fire incidents are common in the metropolis due to the absence of adequate fire safety measures in buildings.

Earlier this month, a fire broke out at Kawish Plaza on Sharea Faisal Road prompting an operation to rescue people inside the building.

Fire breaks out in North Karachi

Separately, a fire broke out in a gas pipeline near Al-Hamid School in North Karachi, according to a Rescue 1122 spokesperson.

“As soon as the Central Command and Control Rescue 1122 received the information, the fire and rescue team, along with one ambulance and one fire brigade truck reached the scene,” the spokesperson said.

They added that Rescue 1122 is in the process of controlling the fire.

The Edhi Foundation also confirmed that its ambulances and volunteers are engaged in relief activities at the scene of the fire.