TWO FIREFIGHTERS DIE IN ASSAM FIRE

INFERNO NOT CONTROLLED YET 2,000 families, which were evacuated beyond a radius of 1.5 km from well, shifted further away

GUWAHATI:The fire that broke out on Tuesday at Oil India Limited’s (OIL) gas well in Assam’s Tinsukia district has claimed the lives of two firefighters including that of a former 30-year-old nationallevel footballer, officials said on Wednesday and added the inferno is unlikely to be controlled anytime sooner.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel recovered bodies of assistant fire operators Durlov Gogoi, a former goalkeeper who represented Assam, and Tikheswar Gohain, 56, from a water body close to the well. The two, who went missing on Tuesday, were working to control the blowout, or leakage of gas and condensate, from the well when it caught fire. The blowout began on May 27.

“It was a difficult operation to retrieve the bodies as the water was warm and fire at the well was blowing very high. The two bodies were found close to each other,” said NDRF inspector Saurabh Singh.

OIL said immediate compensation has been disbursed to the families of the two. Five other people, who were working at the well when it caught fire, have received minor injuries. Nearly 2,000 families, which were evacuated because of the blowout beyond a radius of 1.5 km from the well, have now been shifted even further and housed in 12 relief camps. Residents of the area on Tuesday staged a protest near the site and blamed OIL for failing to control the blowout for two weeks.

The well is located near the

Dibru Saikhowa National Park and the eco-sensitive Maguri Mottapung wetland, which are home to endangered hoolock gibbons and Gangetic dolphins.

The statement said a team of experts from Alert Disaster Control, Singapore, visited the site on Wednesday. Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s office said the PM has assured the state of all help to tackle the situation.

OIL said foreign experts have expressed confidence about controlling the fire.

PTI NDRF personnel search for bodies of two fire-fighters at a pond near an oil well as Baghjan oil field continues to burn, in Tinsukia district of Assam on Wednesday. One of the deceased firefighters, Durlov Gogoi, was a former goalkeeper of the Assam football team

PTI NDRF personnel searching for the firefighters in Assam’s Tinsukia district on Wednesday. Their bodies were later recovered.