The fire that started on Tuesday due to the leakage of oil in the oil well of Oil India Ltd, located in Tinsukia district of Assam, is getting worse. Flames of fierce fire are spreading in the surrounding villages. Even as on Thursday, the third day of the incident, the firefighters, NDRF, and engineers deployed at the site are in continuous efforts to douse the fire.
According to the reports, the inferno was so intense that it could be seen from as far as 10 km away, and had completely and partially burnt more than 35 houses. On Wednesday, at least two firefighters died while four other people suffered burnt injuries. In a preventive measure, as many as 7,000 people have been evacuated.
As quoted in an IANS reports, OIL spokesman Tridiv Hazarika said, "Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a review meeting with the crisis management team and OIL officials through video conferencing on the fire in the OIL's gas well. It has been reported that except at the well plinth area, the fire around the site has mostly extinguished. However, the burning of gas would continue until the well is capped.
"Over 7,000 inhabitants adjoining the oil well fire site have been shifted to the 12 relief camps set up by the OIL," Hazarika reportedly added.
This comes after a massive fire broke out at the leaking natural gas producing well of the state-owned OIL in Tinsukia district earlier this week. As per the reports, on the day the fire erupted, an expert team from a Singapore-based emergency management firm was trying to plug the leakage of gas and oil that had been dispensing for over 16 days.
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(With inputs from IANS News Agency)