A massive fire engulfed the damaged Baghjan oil well on Tuesday which has been spewing gas uncontrollably for the last 14 days in Assam's Tinsukia district. No casualties were reported. However, a fire fighter from ONGCL sustained minor injuries during fire fighting operations, OIL said in a statement.
"While the clearing operations were on at the well site, the well caught fire. There is no casualty reported. A firefighter from ONGCL sustained minor injuries. Fire tenders are at the site controlling the spread of fire", OIL said.
While chalking out the plans with ALERT team in the morning, they presented alternate options which also included "Capping Stack Guide Rail" Mechanism. ÔNGC & OIL teams had made considerable progress with the "Capping Stack Guide Rail" Mechanism and it was decided to proceed with the same.
However, the current situation would be brought under control by the experts. There are violent protests around the well site. Request was made to Chief Secretary, Govt of Assam and District Administration, Tinsukia for maintaining law & order so that the experts are allowed to enter the site and start the well control operations.
All officials of OIL/ ONGC are being evacuated from nearby areas. Once the situation is normal, the experts from ALERT and the staff of OIL/ ONGC will move to the site. Post the incident, emergency meetings are underway with ALERT Team. They have expressed that it is now a safe environment for working and are confident that the situation can be controlled and the well can be capped safely.
The situation demands arrangement of large quantities of water, installation of high discharge pumps and removal of debris. All the operations as per ALERT will take about 4 weeks. Efforts will be made to reduce this timeframe as much as possible, OIL added.
