Mysterious underground fire keeps villagers on toes in Gomia block

Bokaro: An underground fire erupted due to unidentified causes near villages in Badkagada area under Tilaiya panchayat in Gomia block of Bokaro district on Tuesday. The place of occurrence is close to the Bokaro river on the foothills of Luggu Hills.
Local administration pressed teams to inspect the spot and began efforts to douse the flames by putting mud and soil with the help of earthmovers but to no avail. The administration asked locals to refrain from venturing nearby the fire zone. Local sources said that besides large flames of fire, the water in the ponds near the spot turned hot. “The flames were about 15-20 feet high due to which the soil also turned black,” said a villager.
Experts believe the fire was a result of the presence of methane gas since the area has huge coal reserves. Villagers said that till date such an incident has never happened in Tilaiya but a few years ago it had happened in Laiyo (Ramgarh) on the other side of the river when fire raged for five days.