2 firefighters found dead near Assam oil well; PM Modi assures help

Guwahati, June 10: Two firefighters of Oil India Ltd were found dead at a wetland near the site of a massive oil well fire in Assam.

The two firefighters had gone missing after the well caught fire on Tuesday and their bodies were recovered by an NDRF team this morning, Oil India Spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika told PTI.

"Their bodies were recovered from a wetland near the site. Prima facie it looks that they jumped into the water and got drowned as there is no mark of burn injury. The exact cause will be ascertained only after a post mortem," he said.

The duo has been identified as Durlov Gogoi and Tikeswar Gohain, both assistant operators of the fire service department of the company, the official said.

A firefighter of the state-owned ONGC suffered minor injuries during efforts to control the blaze, which Oil India said could take as long as four weeks to be put out.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal of all possible assistance to the victims of a massive fire at Oil India's Baghjan well.

A massive fire on Tuesday engulfed the damaged Baghjan oil well which has been spewing gas uncontrollably for the last two weeks in Assam's Tinsukia district.

The blaze at the Oil India Ltd's well is so massive that it can be seen from a distance of more than 30 kilometres with thick black smoke going up several metres high, endangering the local biodiversities which were already ravaged following the major blowout that happened on May 27.

A firefighter of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) suffered minor injuries during efforts to control the blaze, which Oil India said could take as long as four weeks to be put off.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal spoke to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and urged them to take urgent steps to douse the fire that broke out when clearing operations were on at the site.

Sonowal was assured of all kinds of central assistance and told even the Air Force was on standby to deal with the emerging situation.

A massive explosion happened in the afternoon at the oil well, next to the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park, and soon black smoke engulfed the area, eyewitnesses said. There were protests in the area as the fire broke out, threatening the lives and livelihood of the people already facing the impact of the blowout for the last two weeks amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Following the gas leak, thousands of people were moved out of the area and provided shelter at different camps where following coronavirus guidelines, such as maintaining social distancing, remain difficult.

In a statement, Oil India said in view of the protests by people around the site, the chief Secretary and Tinsukia district administration were requested for maintaining law and order so that experts were allowed to enter the site and start the well control operations.