Blast at Baghjan Assam Oil Well, 3 Foreign Technicians Injured

Guwahati: On Wednesday a fire broke out at Assam's Oil India Limited well. It has been on fire for more than a month, three foreign experts got injured trying to put off the blaze at the site. The entire area has been cordoned off.

As per reports the fire broke out near in Tinsukia district, Baghjan, well number 5. The injured technicians have been hospitalised and are stable, said OIL sources.

The fire broke out when the experts were on their way to open the spool of the well before putting up the blow out preventer (BOP) that finally douses the fire, as per the PTI news agency official.

The Bajghjan Tinsukia oil well which is 500 km away from main city Guwahati, blasted on May 27 and has been leaking gas since then, resulting in damage to the region's wetlands and biodiversity.

Clearing operations are still going on, the well caught fire last month.

Last month two firefighters of Oil India Ltd were found dead at a wetland near the site. The fire intensity was too high that was visible from 10 km distance. "Their bodies were recovered from a wetland near the site. Prima facie it looks that they jumped in the water and got drowned as there is no mark of burn injury," an official said. Foreign experts were called for help to put off the fire.

People residing in a 1.5-km radius of the well had been shifted to safely in relief camps. The company had announced Rs 30,000 compensation to the displaced residents.