GUWAHATI: A massive explosion took place in a natural gas-producing well of Oil India Limited in Baghjan in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district on Tuesday afternoon, where a blowout – uncontrolled escape of gas – was reported two weeks back.
The incident happened at a time when an expert team from Singapore, which arrived at the site on Monday, was on the job along with OIL’s technical team to control the blowout at Baghjan oil well number 5.
Dark smoke from the inferno quickly engulfed the area as panic gripped residents. However, the damage, if any, was yet to be ascertained.
“We were mentally prepared for such an incident and the expert team too had alerted us that there could be an explosion after a blowout. But we have taken all safety measures to ensure that the fire does not spread to other areas. We have the technique to control the situation in the next four to five days,” an OIL spokesperson told the media on Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, addressing the media here, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the state government has taken all measures to ensure safety of the residents near the blast site and appealed to them not to panic.
“The state chief secretary, DGP and Tinsukia district administration have been directed in this regard to take all measures to control the situation. I have also briefed Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan about the incident over phone
Fire and emergency services, army and police officials have been deployed at the site. A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team is already assisting the relief operations.
“I have also requested the Union defence minister to engage the Indian Air Force to play a role in controlling the situation,” Sonowal said.
Earlier in the day, OIL had posted on its official Twitter handle that all major arrangements for well killing (subduing) operations were in full swing and entered the final stage with initial testing of the hydraulically-driven mechanical transporter carried out.
“Experts from the Singapore-based firm, Alert Disaster Control visited the site and complimented OIL for all the preparatory works carried out so far,” it posted.
Senior officials of OIL had on Monday briefed the three foreign experts on the progress in the well control operation. After preliminary discussions, they along with a team from the oil major had left for the site.
Among the measures taken by OIL are composite arrangements for subduing the well, arrangements for creating water umbrella for well control operation, digging of water reservoir and placement of high capacity water pumps.
