Deputy commissioner of Gwadar area smelled of gas that caused a flash when people lit cigarettes. PHOTO: AFP
A mud island that formed off the coast of Gwadar following Tuesday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Balochistan is spewing mystery gases.
The deputy commissioner of Gwadar, Tufail Baloch, who travelled by boat to the island , said water bubbled along the edges of the island, in what appeared to be gas discharging. He said the area smelled of gas that caused a flash when people lit cigarettes.
The sea from Gwadar to Ormara had a vast stock of frozen methane gas below the sea bed and it is not uncommon to see bubbles in the water caused by methane gas escaping from fissures, according to the director-general of the National Institute of Oceanography Dr. Ali Rashid Tabrez
But a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey isn’t so sure. “The methane in this region we know about (is) deeper and offshore,” he tells ABC News. “It’s not the most likely scenario. It could also be carbon dioxide, fluids in the ground.”
Navy geologist Mohammed Danish said the mud island was about 18 meters high, 30 meters wide and 76 meters long, making it a little wider than a tennis court and slightly shorter than a football field.
Dr Tabrez said people shouldn’t go too near since there was some movement below the sea bed. No boating or fishing should be allowed either, he said. The NIO which has a station at Gwadar had sent its technical staff to observe, take samples and photograph the phenomenon. The “island” is made up of soft sediment, mostly mud, sand and even rock fragments, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2013.
COMMENTS (21)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Love the descriptor written below the picture shown above in this news story: "Deputy commissioner of Gwadar area smelled of gas"
Clearly no one told the geologist and the commissioner that methane is odourless and agents are added giving it the pungent smell it does as a safety precaution to detect presence and leaks.
The island spews gas like the country!
Defence Phase 420
Now, Zardari and Nawaz must be fighting to grab this one too.
it would be perfect for achieving " strategic depth" :)
@Zaid Hamid dude the island is unstable and pretty small in size -_-
Perfect place for a TTP office !!!
Could be because of the decomposition of gas hydrates. Still Tufail Baloch should not have made the statement with verifying facts. Natural gas, as it occurs, is odorless with odorants added to it at distribution grid.
"Deputy commissioner of Gwadar area smelled of gas..."
ET get your English grammar right!
Carbon dioxide is not a flammable gas while Methane is, and its poisonous as well. So best to keep away.
Name it "Zal Zala" island
This maybe a turning point for Pakistan. What if this island has petroleum?
@Zaid : I hope you are joking . Nature is bigger and more powerful than Ind or Pak . We are too tiny to do any such thing.
I am annoyed by most conspiracy theories, but the way Balochistan is being destabilized, and the threat Gwadar poses to a number of countries... this has got me thinking! Seriously though, I hope this does not interfere too heavily with the operation of the port. Strange...
Gotta love the figure description. LOL!
It appears that now "they" want people in general to believe that its not useful gas. It is carbon dioxide. The real stake holders of the area will be moved away and people in power will make a lot of bucks!!
This is an Indian conspiracy to spy on our naval base in Gwadar from these islands.
It is surprising why we listen to US or any other geologist to ascertain absence/presence of gases/minerals etc- if we could only invest in and listen to our own experts, I am sure we would be better off in the long term
Lets fill some CNG tanks.