A massive fire that broke out on the Burhi Dihing river in Assam on Sunday due to leakage from an underground oil pipeline has been contained, officials informed on Monday.
The fire on Burhi Dihing took place on Sunday at Naharkatia in Dibrugarh district, nearly 450 km east of Guwahati, after oil from the Oil India Limited (OIL) pipeline started leaking.
“Fire on the river surface started after the oil spill covered it. It continued for a few hours and once the spilled oil got burnt, the fire subsided on Sunday evening,” said Padmanabh Baruah, additional superintendent of police (headquarters), Dibrugarh district.
“Officials from OIL also reached the spot and stopped the leakage from the pipeline. Since the fire took place in the middle of the river, it didn’t cause much damage. No one was injured in the incident,” he added.
Baruah informed that minor fires due to such leakages have taken place in the past as well and added that the leakage wasn’t the outcome of some subversive activity.
Pipelines in Assam are sometimes targeted by oil thieves who drill holes to extract fuel illegally. There have been several instances in the past where militant outfits have targeted oil pipelines.
{{/usCountry}}Pipelines in Assam are sometimes targeted by oil thieves who drill holes to extract fuel illegally. There have been several instances in the past where militant outfits have targeted oil pipelines.
{{/usCountry}}“Big fires caused due to burning of hydrocarbons could cause release of greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide and affect the nearby environment a bit,” said Hari Prasad Sarma, professor, department of environmental science, Gauhati University.
“Dissolution of carbon dioxide in water in large quantities for long periods of time could hurt living organisms in the river. But in this instance, the damage, if any, seems minimal,” he added.