Oil refinery fires are extinguished

Izmit - Fires raging in an oil refinery in north-western Turkey have been put out, a senior official of the state-owned Tupras company said yesterday.

Mr Ismail Alakoc, head of the Tupras executive board, told reporters that fire-fighters were continuing to burn off a small amount of naphtha oil left in one of the six tanks that had caught fire.

Fire-fighters from France, Switzerland, Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Hungary have been working to extinguish the blaze since it began. All 1,300 refinery employees have joined the fire-fighting effort, helped by C130 transport planes and helicopters of the Turkish army dropping chemicals to slow the spread of fire.

Wind hindered the work, fanning the flames and causing fears that they could extend into an industrial area which includes a chemical plant. Settlement areas near the plant were evacuated.

Before the fire, the Tupras plant processed 11.5 million tonnes of crude per year and accounted for 86 per cent of Turkey's oil consumption. Mr Alakoc refused to comment on the estimated cost of the fire to the refinery.