A massive explosion took place at the site of blowout at an oil well of oil exploration major Oil India Limited (OIL) in Assam’s Tinsukia district on Tuesday.

 

Soon after the explosion at around 1:30 pm, plumes of smoke and flames enveloped the sky at the Baghjan Oil Well No 5.

 

Damage, if any, was not immediately known. It was also not known if three experts from a Singapore firm Alert Disaster Control, flown in by the OIL on Sunday to cap the blowout, and other employees of the OIL were at the site at the time of the incident.

 

While the clearing operations were on at the well site, the well caught fire.There is no casualty reported. Fire tenders are at the site controlling the spread of fire. There are violent protests around the well site. Once the situation is normal, the experts will move to the site said the company official.

 

Senior officials of the OIL had on Monday briefed the three foreign experts on the progress in the well control operation. After the session of preliminary discussion and de-briefing, they along with a team of experts from the OIL had left for the site.

 

The blowout had occurred on May 27. Environmentalists and wildlife activists claimed the incident affected aquatic animals, including the endangered Gangetic dolphins and fish, at river Dibru. They said the emission of gas also posed a threat to the wildlife in Dibru Saikhowa National Park, which is known for its feral horses. The park is about two km away from the site of the incident.

 

An incident like this is rare. During a similar blowout in 2005 at Dikom in Dibrugarh district, experts had to be flown in from abroad to control a blaze at an abandoned oil well. The situation could be brought under control 45 days later.