Hyderabad:
The death toll in the major fire that broke out on Friday in the state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) refinery in Andhra Pradesh's coastal city of Visakhapatnam rose to eight, police said on Saturday.
Five charred bodies were recovered from under the debris at the mishap site on Saturday. Two bodies were found on Friday night.
As many as 38 people are under treatment in different hospitals and the condition of six of them is stated to be critical.
Personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) joined the search operation at the mishap site, the diesel hydro sulphurisation expansion project.
The fire broke out after a major blast in an under-construction cooling tower in the state-owned HPCL refinery on Friday evening.
About a dozen fire engines controlled the fire, not allowing it to spread to other parts of the refinery.
The authorities have opened a control room at the district collectorate. Relatives of the missing workers staged a protest on Saturday at the main entrance of the refinery.
About 4,000 employees of the refinery were boycotting their duties on Saturday to demand proper safety measures at the refinery.
Union Minister of State for Petroleum Pannabaka Lakshmi visited the refinery and spoke to the officials about the disaster. She later told reporters that a high-level probe was already ordered into the mishap.
Relatives of the victims and other workers staged a protest during her visit and demanded compensation. They complained that the officials were not giving them information.