Volcanic type eruptions observed in Arunachal

Itanagar, Aug 24 (UNI) Panic gripped Arunachal Pradesh's Papum Pare district following volcanic like eruptions in an area, seven kms off Kimin towards Ziro under Lower Subansiri district, since Tuesday evening.

According to delayed reports here today fumes have been noticed coming out from a 2 X 2 meter hole in the area on Tuesday evening and even stones around 200 sq mtr area had almost melted, pillow structure like magnetic flow was visible and small reddish yellow holes were noticed which were even hot till yesterday at the spot adjacent to a 33 KV high voltage overhead electric tower.

Though Papum Pare deputy commissioner Bidol Tayeng and SP Hibu Tamang have cautioned the Kimin administration to be alert, there was no official confirmation about the unusual happening.

A two-member team of scientists from Geological Survey of India (GSI) besides a team from state government's geology and mining department visited the spot yesterday to collect evidences for examinations and testing to confirm the causes of the eruptions.

Deputy GSI Director S Basu Mullick told UNI today that the samples collected from the spot would be sent to Kolkata for analysis before coming to a concrete conclusion of the unnatural happenings.

''We cannot comment anything at this stage as it is very early to predict presence of volcano in the area. However, our scientists are observing the samples minutely before coming into a final conclusion,'' he added.

When asked about the materials collected and the nature of eruption he said that the activities observed on the spot was only fumarolic not volcanic, which already began to cease since yesterday.

Claiming that there was nothing to be worried the GSI official said that the concerned divisional forest officer had been asked to restrict movement of people in the area which, is on a height of 30 meters on a hill slope as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, Papum Pare DC and SP besides a team from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology here rushed to Kimin today to inspect the site.

The DC would submit a detailed report to the state government also.

It might be mentioned here that Arunachal Pradesh falls under zone-v of the Himalayan seismic belt.

UNI