3 Experts injured in massive explosion at Assam’s Baghjan oil field

Mangalore Today News Network

Assam, Jul 22, 2020: A massive explosion has been reported from one of the Oil India wells in Baghjan in Assam’s Tinsukia district. In a statement on Wednesday, Oil India Limited’s spokesperson Tridip Hazarika said that the explosion happened when an operation was underway to douse the fire that has been raging at the Baghjan oil field for 56 days now.

 

Experts were on their way to open the spool of the well before putting up the blow out preventer (BOP) when the explosion took place.

Hazarika also stated that three foreign experts who were near well number-5 at the time of the explosion have suffered injuries. They have been rushed to Assam Medical College Hospital in Dibrugarh. The three men from Singapore based firm Alert Disaster Control Anthony Steven Reynolds, Doug Dallas and Craig Neil Duncan, are part of the six-member expert team engaged in efforts to douse the fire at the well.

Efforts to douse the fire at the Baghjan oil field have been suspended, for now, Oil India spokesperson Tridip Hazarika has said.

A fire has been raging at the Baghjan oil field since June 9 of this year. The explosion in June was the result of the unabated release of gas and oil which first began on May 27.
advertisement

Authorities have had to relocate as many as 9,000 locals from Natungaon, Gotong and Kaliapani to relief camps in Guijan area over the last two months. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has also formed a committee comprising eight experts to examine the blowout and its aftermath. This committee will also assess the damage caused to locals and the ecosystem.

OIL had maintained that foreign experts along with National and State Disaster Management Relief personnel would be able to douse the fire by July 7. However, the site and roads leading up to it were submerged owing to recent floods that have devastated parts of Assam. Two firefighters were also killed during efforts to douse the fire on July 9.

Baghjan is about 43 km away from Tinsukia town. There are a total of five gas and 17 oil wells in the Baghjan oil field.


courtesy: IndiaToday