GUWAHATI: The gas well capping operation at Baghjan oil field of Oil India Limited (OIL) in Tinsukia district of Assam was disrupted on Wednesday afternoon temporarily after a fire mishap in which three foreign oil-capping experts suffered burn injuries.
However, the capping operation which had made ‘very good progress’ today, will be resumed tomorrow, a senior OIL official informed.
Meanwhile, experts from Singapore-based M/S Alert –Anthony Steven Reynolds, Doug Dallas, Craig Neil Duncan – who suffered burn injuries while they were supervising the capping of the raging gas well at Baghjan, were stated to be out of danger and released from hospital. They were rushed to Astha nursing home in nearest Dibrugarh town following the mishap.
The fire broke out when the experts were on their way to open the spool of the well before putting up the blow out preventer (BOP) that finally douses the fire, an official says.
The oil well at Baghjan in Tinsukia district of eastern Assam, had a blowout on May 27 and has been leaking gas since, causing damage to the region’s wetlands and biodiversity.
The well had caught fire on June 9 month while clearing operations were going on in the site.
Two firefighters of Oil India Ltd were found dead at a wetland near the site after the well caught fire last month.