Three foreign experts engaged in dousing operations at the Baghjan blowout site in Assam's Tinsukia district were injured in an explosion near Oil India Limited's well number five on Wednesday, said reports.
#WATCH: Water being sprayed at well no.5 of Oil India in Baghjan, Tinsukia as part of the operations to douse fire at the location.
An explosion occurred near the well today, while the operation was underway. Three foreign experts present at the site injured & taken to hospital pic.twitter.com/u07jFADoW7
— ANI (@ANI) July 22, 2020
According to News18 Assam, the injured — Anthony Steven Reynolds, Doug Dallas and Craig Neil Duncan from the M/S Alert Disaster Control Company — have been shifted to a private hospital in Dibrugarh.
“During the disaster control process, the experts were on their way to open the spool of the well which is essential before putting up the BOP (Blow Out Preventer) that finally douses the fire. It’s during that process that the blast occurred and three experts were injured.”Jayant Bormudoi, Senior Manager, Public Affairs of Oil India Ltd. told news agency PTI.
The cause of the blast, its scale and nature are being ascertained, the official said
Tridip Hazarika, Oil India's Spokesperson told news agency ANI that the dousing operation has now been halted.
The damaged well, located in close proximity to the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, has been spewing gas uncontrollably since a blowout was reported on 28 May.
A massive fire had broken out at the site on 9 June and two firefighters had perished during operations to control the blaze. The gas and condensate droplets had spread to a large area and the fire had engulfed everything within a one-kilometre radius, official sources had said.
According to a Hindustan Times report, over 9,000 people have been shifted to relief camps since the blowout.
Foreign experts brought in to extinguish the blaze were expected to complete the operations by 7 July but were delayed due to the incessant rains and flood situation in Assam, said the report.
Multiple agencies such as ERM India, TERI, CSIR-NEIST and IIT-Guwahati are engaged in carrying out impact assessment studies in nearby areas, the company has said.
According to OIL, after the 9 June fire, locals had also staged violent protests at the well site.
There are 17 oil and five gas wells in the Baghjan oil field.
from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/39pHg6n
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