Crude oil pipeline bursts in Karachi’s DHA Phase VI, repair work underway

The Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has on Sunday issued a public safety and environmental advisory in wake of the leakage of crude oil pipeline belonging to National Refinery Limited (NRL) located in DHA Phase VI, Karachi, as per a statement released by the information department of the provincial government.

South DIG Syed Asad Raza told that the pipeline owned by NRL, which transports oil from Keamari to Korangi, had developed a leak in it that caused oil to spill on the road.

The police SHO Darakhshan Syed Rashid Ali said that the pipeline was very old and passed through a median of road.

As per Sepa, the spill took place on Khayaban-e-Sehar, Street 13, at 10:30pm on Saturday.

The statement quoted Sepa DG Ashiq Langah as saying that the response team of NRL had arrived at the site at midnight and had started containment and cleanup operations. The recovery of oil was being done using spill kits and over 20 drums had been recovered so far, he added.

Excavation was being carried out at the site for locating the source of leakage and stopping it completely, he said in the statement.

The Environment Secretary Faisal Uqaili had asked the concerned authorities to ensure that contaminated soil, sand and sludge be removed immediately and disposed of in compliance with environmental regulations. Fresh sand will be spread over the site after remediation work is done, as per Sepa.

The environmental watchdog organization informed that it is monitoring the situation and instructing the management of NRL to make sure that the leaking has been totally controlled, the contaminated material is disposed off and the potential damage to the environment assessed.

"The protection of citizens and the prevention of environmental pollution are at the top of the priority list of the Sindh government," Mr. Uqaili stated, adding that remedial measures will be taken in time and contaminated soil and other materials will be disposed off in accordance with environmental guidelines."

He stated that all the relevant departments are working in coordination and monitoring the situation.

Sepa has asked the people to keep themselves away from the location, not to smoke or use flame near the spilt oil and not to try disposing off the spillage on their own.

People have also been instructed to inform about any more leakage of the oil.