IMPHAL, June 5: After the continuous spewing of ashes and smoke from an expanding crater in a swampy area of old Wahong village, which many suspect to be volcanic activity, spreading fears amongst villagers at Shitru area of Ukhrul District, official of the Disaster Management Department sent a team of experts joined by some more officials of the Ukhrul administration, including the SDC Jessami, to the spot.
The combined team, it is reported, has reached the spot at Wahong and examined the soil in the area. The team has collected soil samples as well but after preliminary examination said it can`™t be volcanic activity. More test will be conducted in laboratories, an official said.
The official said the phenomenon is unlikely to be volcanic activity and therefore there is no cause for the villagers to panic. The 6-member expert team from the Disaster Management Department and the five officials from SDO Jassami inspected the area very thoroughly and returned today.
It may be mentioned that DC Ukhrul had ordered for restriction of entry to the area recently.
It is further reported that according to the villagers they have sighted smoke coming from the swamp area first at Shitru in the month of April, 2015. However villagers thought to be charred ember remains of pine root from a wild fire.
The area is at the tri-junction of Manipur and Nagaland along the Myanmar border. It is also reported that a villager Wisdom Vashum, had accidentally stepped into the crater and received severe burn injuries on his left leg, sending fears to the villagers that some unnatural phenomenal was unfolding.
Another villager, Standhope Vashum, reported that he saw three holes of one square foot diameter and these holes were clearly visible and were spread around a circumference of 60 feet. The water from a nearby pond too is reported to taste very sour.
Following the reports, the Deputy Commissioner Modak Hrisheekesh Arvind already sounded the alert to the higher authority for intervention and investigation. The DC also directed SDO Jessami to immediately look into the matter.
The team rushed to the spot on Friday responding to appeals by the villagers.