Assam oil well fire: The Oil India Ltd caught fire after gas leak for 14 days
Guwahati:
Two missing Oil India Ltd firefighters were found dead in a wetland near the site of a massive oil well fire in Assam, officials said today. The Tinsukia district oil well in Upper Assam, which has been leaking gas for 14 days, caught fire on Tuesday. The fire was so intense that it could be seen up to 10 km away.
Authorities said the fire was contained within a 1.5 km radius of the incident site, but that it is still burning while the oil well continues to supply gas.
The Indian Air Force and the military are participating in firefighting operations after the state government asked for help. The area was cordoned off by paramilitary forces.
Oil India said on Tuesday that the well had caught fire while cleanup was underway. The company said in a statement that there had been protests around the gas leak site and that all teams from Oil India and CGSB (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) had been evacuated.
Experts who were flown from Singapore will take about four weeks to completely plug the well, sources said.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been deployed in the region since the time of the gas leak and senior Assam officials are also examining the situation.
The Baghjan Tinsukia oil well, 500 km from the main city of Guwahati, exploded on May 27 and has since leaked gas, causing damage to the region’s wetlands and biodiversity.
Images shared by residents on social media show gas condensate settling in the Maguri Beel wetland, carcasses of threatened gangetic dolphins and other aquatic species floating in Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, barely 3 km from the oil field.
Rice fields, ponds and wetlands in neighboring villages have been contaminated and the threat is growing daily. Several small tea producers in the region have complained about the gas condensate layers in their tea gardens.
Some 6,000 people living within 1.5 km of the natural gas production well have been evacuated and placed in relief camps. Oil India has announced financial assistance of 30,000 rupees for each affected family.
