US experts trying to douse huge oil fire in AXOM

(IANS)17 September 2005
GUWAHATI — A massive fire at a crude oil well in Assam's Dibrugarh district continued to rage for the second day yesterday as two US experts began an operation to douse the towering blaze, officials said.
The well, owned by state exploration firm Oil India Limited (OIL), was damaged on Tuesday causing oil and natural gas to escape from the site located close to a tea plantation near Dikom, 520km east of Guwahati.
The gas ignited on Thursday afternoon, sending flames and smoke soaring into the sky.
An OIL spokesman said two US experts from Boots and Coots were trying to bring the fire under control using sophisticated equipment.
Houston-based Boots and Coots International Well Control Inc. is a leading company dealing with oil and gas well blowouts and fires.
"The two US experts were accompanied by an eight-member crisis management team from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGCL) and they have already begun work on the site to put out the blaze," OIL spokesman Prasanta Barkakati told IANS by telephone from company headquarters in Duliajan, eastern Assam.
"We expect the US experts would be able to bring the situation under control and then cap the well," OIL's group general manager J.K. Talukdar said. Witnesses reported flames rising to 40 feet, thick black smoke and large patches of oil spilt over the area dotted with rice fields.
"The oil spill and the fire has started affecting the locals with villagers as far as two to three kilometers from the fire site," Bhuban Dutta, a community leader in Dikom, said by telephone.
The heat generated from the fire was being felt at least two to three kilometers from the well, witnesses said.
"Everywhere you find thick films of soot and the heat is being felt far away from the site," Biju Boro, a local photographer, said.
Over 3,000 people were evacuated.