Oil India's natural gas well explodes in Assam; 1,610 families evacuated

A natural gas well owned by Oil India Limited (OIL) turned into an inferno in Baghjan, Assam next to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park on Tuesday.

The well had been continuously spewing out gas or undergoing a blowout since May 27 in Tinsukia district.

It's almost a fortnight the Baghjan oil well in the vicinity of Dibru Saikhowa National Park in upper Assam has been blowing out with fury at a huge cost to flora and fauna, homesteads, agriculture and environment#SaveDibruSaikhowa#savedehingpatkai pic.twitter.com/Pl357vbOma

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- Pradyut Bordoloi (@pradyutbordoloi) June 9, 2020

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called up Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan to get foreign experts to repair the damage.

OIL Chairman and Managing Director Sushil Chandra Mishra, on June 8 said three experts from Singapore-based Alert Disaster Control reached Tinsukia district to plug the blowout in the gas well.

On the status of repair work, the PSU major had said arrangements were made to create water umbrella to control operation. Besides, the preparation of placement of high capacity water pumps was also under progress.

OIL Gas Well Baghjan Blowout

Considerable progress made today in testing of Hydraulic BOP (Blowout Preventer) lander to place the BOP over the well head. Built in-house by OIL Team at Central Workshop , Duliajan with inputs from ONGCL CMT team. pic.twitter.com/6yvX3P7xen

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- Oil India Limited (@OilIndiaLimited) June 8, 2020

However, poor weather condition was hampering the work progress, according to a statement issued by the company.

Five people have reportedly died due to the gas leak in the area.  However, the district administration, where the gas field is present, has ordered a magisterial inquiry on the matter.

According to OIL, it had appointed an environmental consultant to assess the impact of the blowout in nearby areas of the district.

Earlier, pictures of carcasses of a river dolphin and fish in Maguri Motapung Beel, adjacent to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and about 1.5 km from the site, went viral on social media.

Following this, the Assam Forest department had issued a notice to OIL on May 29 seeking details of the incident.

Since May 27, around 1,610 families were evacuated from the nearby affected areas and were camped in four relief camps set up at Baghjan Dighulturrang LP School, St Joseph School- Baghjan Tea Estate, Gateline LP School-Dighultarrang and No. 1 Baghjan Gaon LP School.

OIL had also assured that it would provide immediate financial relief of Rs 30,000 each to over 1,600 families affected by a major blowout from a gas well in Assam.

Ambulances with para-medical staff are on stand by and a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been mobilised to look after the relief operation.

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