A preliminary probe has found no link between the reported deaths of four persons and a blowout at a natural gas-producing well of the Oil India Limited (OIL) in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district. The affected well is at Baghjan near the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.
The probe by the Tinsukia district administration preceded the arrival of three disaster control experts early on Monday by a chartered flight from Singapore. They began preparatory work for capping the well that has been spewing gas and associated elements since May 27.
“A probe was carried out following reports that four-five residents of villages in the Baghjan area died due to gas emission. It was found that two of the people who died, including a woman, had not been to their village in recent times,” a statement issued by the district information office said.
While a man from the Baghjan area suffering from tuberculosis since 2019 died on June 4 at a hospital in Dibrugarh, the headquarters of the adjoining Dibrugarh district. A woman from Natun Rangagarh village died at her in-laws’ place, also in Dibrugarh district.
Another person was found to have died in his village of a liver ailment he had been suffering for six months while a fourth person, with a history of epilepsy, “reportedly expired on June 3 due to drowning.”
Magisterial probe
Tinsukia’s Deputy Commissioner Bhaskar Pegu, however, said a magisterial inquiry had been ordered to ascertain the exact cause of the death of these people.
Meanwhile, OIL officials said the trio of experts from Singapore, who have together handled more than a 1,000 blowouts in 135 countries, were confident of controlling the Baghjan well soon.
