Public sector Oil India Ltd has declared an emergency and called for global fire extinguishing experts to control a blaze that broke out on Thursday in one of its wells at Dikom in Upper Assam, even as temperatures reached an unbearable 2000 degree Celsius, company sources said on Friday.
The company declared an emergency in the area and requisitioned the services of global fire fighting experts Red Adair and Neil Adams to extinguish the blaze, which broke out in an abandoned oil well No. 15, saying it was 'beyond our technical team to control the fire with our internal technology.'
The sky in the area was black with thick smoke, ashes and debris scattered everywhere with a film of crude oil covering the ground, they said, adding that the roar of the flames could be heard and the blaze seen from several kilometres.
Fire fighters who claimed the temperature there had risen to over 2000 degree Celsius, said over 12 firemen had fainted due to exhaustion and the unbearable heat.
Dibrugarh District Superintendent of Police P C Saloi told PTI over phone that the blaze has not spread any further since Thursday when over 500 families in the area were evacuated to a safer place.
District authorities have blocked the nearby National Highway No 37 as a precautionary measure and snapped power as high tension wires that pass near the oil well and spill area.
Top OIL officials are camping at the site and taking precautionary measures to ensure that the fire does not spread to adjacent oil wells as the flames leapt up to more than 25 feet. The entire area has been cordoned off with even mediamen and photographers not allowed to go near the site.
The oil major had launched a massive rescue operation for the 500-plus families in the nearby Dikom tea estate and villages following the outbreak of fire at Kuhiabari near Dikon where large tracts of standing paddy crops and tea bushes were destroyed by the oil spillage.
ONGC fire extinguishing teams and equipment have also been requisitioned from Bombay High.
OIL sources also said over 50 firetenders from OIL, ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation, Assam Gas Company, state fire service, NEEPCO, Indian Airforce and army have been pressed into service to control the blaze.
A cause of worry for OIL was an oil collecting station just 500 metres away from the blazing well. Initial survey put the extent of loss due to oil spillage to Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million), OIL sources said.
Panic prevailed in nearby villages as more and more people left their home for safer areas even as the state government put the administration and police on high alert to ensure that there was no loss of life and property in areas nearby, police said.
The district administration also ordered an enquiry into the fire amid mounting pressure from affected people seeking compensation from OIL.
Sources at the Dikom tea estate, belonging to Rossell group, said the oil spillage spread to three sections of the garden affecting tea plantations in an area of 20 hectare, besides affecting tea leaf manufacturing.
