Another explosion at Baghjan oil well in Assam, 3 foreign experts injured

Three foreign experts, who were hired by Oil India Limited (OIL) to plug the burning gas well at Baghjan in eastern Assam's Tinsukia district received burn injuries in an explosion that took place during their operation on Wednesday afternoon.

Three experts belonging to the Singapore-based company Alert were trying to remove a spool from the well head as part of their efforts to plug the blowout when the explosion took place.

The three injured experts--Anthony Steven Reynolds, Doug Dallas and Craig Neil Duncan were immediately provided treatment by OIL's medical team at the mishap site and were later rushed to a private hospital in Dibrugarh, about 70-km away. "The injury was minor and they have been discharged from the hospital. The operation was halted for the day due to the explosion and we hope the work would resume tomorrow, " OIL spokesperson, Tridiv Hazarika said.

Anthony and Doug is from the US while Crail hails from Australia.

The gas well under OIL's Baghjan oilfiled blewout on May 27 and gas and condensate was uncontrollablly flowing out of the well. The experts were flown in from Singapore on June 8 but the well caught a massive fire the next day burning houses and damaging tea gardens and agricultural fields.

More than 10,000 people had to be evacuated since the blowout and they are still living in relief camps. It also severely affected the environment and a ecologically rich water body situated nearby.

The gas well is continuously burning since June 9. Local residents resorted to blockade and protest alleging the expert team's failure to douse the fire even on the 56th day on Wednesday. Serious flood situation also halted the operation to douse the fire.

The protests have also seriously disrupted exploration in 12 oil wells and five gas wells under OIL's Baghjan oilfileds. The blockades resulted production loss of 15,590 MT of oil and 34 MMSCM natural gas since May 27, said a statement issued by Hazarika.