Blowout At Ongc Rig, No Casualty Reported
A major blowout followed by a fire has been reported from one of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)s hi-tech rigs operating in the Mandapeta-West field in the Amalapuram region of the Godavari-Krishna basin. No casualty has been reported yet.
According to preliminary reports received here last evening, the flame has risen to over 100 metres and there has been a heavy dischargeof oil.
More than 400 families in the vicinity of the rig have been evacuated by district officials. The possibility of a gas leak has not been confirmed. The fire occured at 1.30 pm. The site is located at Pithanivaripalem village in Kothapeta Mandal, about 3 km from Ravulapalam town.
The ONGC office at Rajah-mundry office was not receiving any information from the site of the fire as its only radio link with the rig snapped.
Efforts are being made to re-establkish radio contact with the rig. East Godavari district officials said seven fire engines have been rushed to the site fronm Rajahmundry, Kotha-peta and Ravulapalem while more are being mobilised from Vijaya-wada, Eluru and other major centres.
This is the second major blowout in the Krishna-Godavari oil basin, the first one having occured in the Pasarlapudi oil well, also in the Amalapuram area, on January 8, 1995.
On that occasion, it took ONGC experts and US consultants 45 days to cap the well.