Begusarai: Panic gripped local people when a natural gas pipeline caught fire between Urfail bypass Chowk and Maranga police station area in Purnia town on Saturday. However, the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) that owns the pipeline meant for supplying domestic fuel, has denied that the gas pipeline caught fire.
Sameer Shekhar, a resident of Purnia town said people ran for safety as intense flame erupted from beneath the soil. Locals said that the local municipal corporation dumps garbage collected from the town here and puts it on fire. They claimed that the leakage from the gas pipeline laid under the soil may have come in contact the fire resulting into high flames.
On being informed, fire tenders immediately reached the spot and extinguished the fire. A video of the incident also went viral on social media.
However, Barauni Refinery senior corporate communication manager Minakshi Thakur said that the IOCL pipeline division had denied that the gas pipeline caught fire.