KAKINADA: Fire atop a borewell following a surge of natural gas / oil in Sivakodu village of Razole mandal in Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district led to moments of panic on Saturday.
According to information, aqua farmer Gangaraju maintains a fish pond that he replenishes with bore water at regular intervals. During the early hours of Saturday, he switched on the motor. A little later, he saw flames burning atop the borewell.
Gangaraju immediately informed fire department personnel, following which teams of fire and revenue department, apart from ONGC officials from Narsapuram, rushed to the spot. While they started organising measures to douse the fire, the flames died by themselves.
Rumours started that there are three sealed oil and gas wells within 200 metres from the borewell. Owing to previous experiences in the region, there were also rumours that the incident could lead to a blowout.
Fire and ONGC officials filled the well with sand and soil as a precautionary measure. ONGC officials said there are rich oil and gas resources in Konaseema area. The borewell being at a depth of more than 300 feet, layers of oil and gas had accumulated in the borewell, which caught fire when the borewell motor started.
Scotching rumours, Razole mandal tahsildar B. Muktheswara Rao clarified that there are no closed wells of oil or gas pipelines in the area.
