A river in Assam's Dibrugarh district has been on fire for three days due to an alleged oil pipeline blast. While the incident has created panic among the locals, no relief measure seems to be coming their way to douse the blaze yet.
Massive flames have surrounded the Burhi Dihing River at Digholibil area near Sasoni village of Naharkatia after crude oil transferred via a water pipe from the Duliajan plant of Oil India Limited (OIL) caught fire.
India Today reported that the villagers noticed the fire three days ago.
While the cause of the fire has not been ascertained yet, locals say the incident took place after some miscreants tried to steal oil from the pipeline.
"Some miscreants tried to steal oil and cut the oil pipeline. The fire took place because of the leakage of oil pipeline," local media reports quoted a villager as saying. "The fire also posed threats to the river's ecosystem," he added.
Oil pipelines across rivers
OIL's 1157 Km fully automated trunk pipeline traverses 78 river crossings through Assam, West Bengal and Bihar.
The oil company has not commented on the incident yet.
