Gas leak causes fire accident on Kakinada-Baruch trunk line

High flames of up to 30 metres were seen initially. However, there was no injury or loss of life

A major fire broke out due to gas leakage at one of the pressure control points of the 1,440-km Kakinada-Baruch trunk line, owned by Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure (RGTIL), at Maddikunta village in Telangana’s Medak district, about 75 km from Hyderabad, in the early hours on Monday.

In a statement, RGTIL said there could be reduction or interruption of gas flow to the downstream customers for 24-48 hours. It added that normal gas flow would resume after an internal investigation was carried out.

The fire could be put out at around 9.30 am after six hours of coordinated efforts, which included emptying the pipeline on this particular stretch to stop the supply at the leakage point. Police and fire extinguishers were pressed into service to avert any loss to life or property.

High flames of up to 30 metres were noticed early in the morning, according to eye witnesses. However, no injury or loss of life was reported, company officials and police said.

“At around 2.50 am, the company's Mumbai control centre alerted the local SHO (station house officer) at Sadasivapet of the fire accident. Our personnel reached the spot immediately and evacuated the people living in a nearby colony to a safer place,” B Sumathi, district superintendent of police, told Business Standard. The cause of the leakage or the sparks that caused the fire was yet to be ascertained, she added.

The police has registered a case of fire accident and started the investigation.

This was for the first time that the accident of this nature happened after the trunk line was built, the company officials told the police.

“Early morning today (Monday), a fire was noticed in a section of the RGTIL pipeline in Maddikunta near Sadasivapet in remote Telangana. Our experts immediately reached the War Room as well as the site of fire,” the company spokesperson said in a statement.

The pipeline is being remotely monitored round-the-clock by the company using sensors and other technologies, which helped them notice the fire early on.

According to Sumathi, the main trunk line was not directly involved in the fire accident as the leakage was caused at a pressure control point connected to the main pipeline. Pressure control points, similar to the one involved in the gas leakage, is located at every 30 km along the pipeline.

The company teams reached two such locations on either side of the accident spot and released the gas into the air by opening the valves in a bid to stop the supply at the leakage point. “Though the fire was put out, the leakage of gas had not entirely stopped,” Sumathi added.

The East-West trunk line was established in 2009 to carry natural gas produced in Reliance Industries’ (RIL) KG-D6 fields off the coast of Andhra Pradesh from the landfall point in Kakinada to Baruch in Gujarat for supply to the clients located on the west coast. RGTIL is owned by RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani.