A massive fire was seen in Assam’s Tinsukia district engulfing from the damaged Baghjan oil well on Tuesday. The fire was visible from a distance more than two kilometres. From this fact it is easily assumable that how massive the blaze was. Baghjan oil well is owned by Oil India Ltd. It suffered a gas leak two weeks ago. No fatality occurred but a fire fighter from the corporation got minor injuries. After the fire broke out nearly 1600 families were evacuated from the vicinity of the spot and send to the relief camp.
This incident is threatening for the environment because the blow out occurred at a producing well which is situated in the vicinity of Dibru Saikhowa National Park a Bio diversity hotspot and Maguri Motapung beel, which is home to migratory birds.
The state Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has requested Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to deploy the Indian Air Force for controlling the fire. He also appealed locals to stay calm. The Assam government deployed a team of National Disaster Response Force, District Officials and paramilitary forces to bring situation under control.
On May 27, one of the oil rigs at oil well suffered a blowout. The oil field started spewing natural gas and condensed droplets after this incident. A three member expert team from Singapore had also arrived on the site on Monday to control the situation. They had discussed with the Oil India limited but a solution was yet to be found.
Now the situation demands arrangement of large quantities of water, installation of high discharge pumps and removal of debris. All the operation of the Singapore based disaster control team will take about four weeks and efforts will be made to reduce this time frame as much as possible said Oil India Limited in a statement.
