An explosion at Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) sent a loud boom across Mangaluru and set off thick plumes of smoke visible from surrounding neighbourhoods, The Times of India reported.

The blast occurred at the refinery complex on the outskirts of the coastal Karnataka city. Residents across Mangaluru reported hearing the boom, and smoke billowed from the site afterwards.

MRPL, a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), operates the 15-million-tonne-per-annum refinery at Mangaluru — a figure the source report did not itself cite, and which the company has not yet confirmed in relation to this incident. The Times of India did not specify which unit was involved, whether the blast hit a process unit, storage area, or ancillary facility.

The report likewise did not state whether operations at the refinery halted following the explosion, or whether any injuries occurred. Emergency response details — fire crews dispatched, evacuation measures, containment status — did not appear in the source account.

The incident marks the latest operational disruption to hit an Indian refining asset this year, though the source carried no comparison figures or prior-incident record.

MRPL supplies fuel to domestic marketing companies and exports products from the New Mangalore Port adjacent to the complex. Any extended outage would bear on southern Indian product supply, but the source provided no run-rate or dispatch data against which to size any impact.

The watch items: confirmation of the affected unit, any casualty report, and whether MRPL shuts down or maintains throughput while it assesses damage. Expect a company statement and a preliminary investigation to follow.