Conveyor belt at FACT berth gutted during sulphur unloading

Kochi, June 14 (UNI) A conveyor belt at the ''fertiliser berth'' of the public sector major FACT in the Cochin Port was gutted in a fire which broke out while a large consignment of sulphur was being unloaded from a ship this evening.

Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) sources told UNI that 18,500 metric tonnes of a sulphur consigment from the UAE was being unloaded from the ship to the conveyor belt at about 1700 hrs. for transportation to the godown when a fire was noticed on the belt.

As the FACT personnel cold not put out the fire on their own, more than five fire tenders of the Cochin Port Trust and the Kerala Fire Service and two tugs (floating fire tenders) of the CPT were pressed into service and the blaze was brought under control after one-and-a-half hours.

Describing the incident as ''minor'', FACT sources said the fire could have been caused by ''some friction'' as sulphur was an easily combustible substance.

There was no injury to any worker present at the spot and no other damage besides to the conveyor belt, which was gutted.

''The exact damage would be assessed tomorrow morning. We will press another conveyor belt into service and resume the unloading operations,'' the FACT officials said.

Two hundred tonnes of sulphur, in powdered form, were unloaded this morning and the unloading operation was to be resumed in the evening when the fire broke out.

The fire tenders carried out ''watering operations'' in the nearby areas also as a precautionary measure.

A large amount of smoke billowing from the fire could be seen nearly half a km away.

UNI ARC VV YA BD2106