A gas leak that began towards the end of May has now led to an explosion and massive fire in Assam's Tinsukia district. The incident took place at a natural gas well under Oil India Limited (OIL). A day earlier, the OIL had said that the Baghjan well was "flowing gas uncontrollably".
A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is present at the spot. Reports also suggest that the fire has begun spreading to residential areas.
As per a tweet by CNN News18's Payal Mehta, an ONGC firefighter has been injured.
Speaking to the media Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the state government was taking measures to control the fire at the Baghjan oilfield explosion site.
The Chief Minister also took to Twitter to add that he had already spoken to Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over phone regarding the incident.
"The CM has already directed to deploy fire and emergency services, army and police officials at the site to control the situation. The CM also directed district admin to ensure safety of people and appealed to local people to not panic," a follow-up tweet added.
As per an NDTV report, the incident comes even as 'well killing' experts were flown in from Singapore on Monday and joined the team on Tuesday.
Reportedly, around 6,000 people have been evacuated from a 1.5 km radius around the well. They have been placed in relief camps. OIL has also announced Rs 30,000 in financial relief for affected families.
