JAIPUR, India — A huge fire at an Indian oil depot that has killed at least six people and injured 150 will be allowed to burn out as firefighters have little hope of dousing it, officials said Friday.
Another six people are trapped in the depot near the city of Jaipur in the western state of Rajasthan where the fire has been burning for nearly 24 hours since it broke out Thursday evening.
"The fire has to die down. There is nothing else one can do. There is no other solution or alternative," federal petroleum minister Murli Deora told reporters.
Dense clouds of black smoke billowed out of at least three oil tanks which were ablaze.
The six dead were all workers at the depot.
Thousands of people living near the oil depot have been evacuated, and power supplies to the surrounding areas switched off. Train services on tracks running near the oil depot have also been halted.
Army troops have been deployed to help in the firefighting operations at the depot, 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Jaipur, which stores gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel for several state-owned oil companies.
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