Hyderabad: Gas from a cracked pipeline belonging to the Reliance Gas Transportation Infrastructure Ltd (RGTIL), passing through Medak district, caught fire at Maddigunta village early on Monday.

The blaze could be put out after a six-hour operation, involving fire fighters, a special team from Reliance and the district police. No one was hurt in the incident though roughly 4.5 million metric tons of gas went waste.

The pipeline, which goes to Bharuch in Gujarat from Kakinada RGTIL gas plant, has few mainline valves in different parts of Medak. Officials said that a crack in a valve located at Maddigunta must have caused the leakage.

The cause of the crack is yet to be ascertained; sources said it could have been anything, from a lightning strike to wear and tear. Officials said that a CCTV camera installed at the premises had recorded the event and after verifying the footage, a conclusion would be drawn.

“Officials from Mumbai alerted the local police after they got an message. They have a centralised alarm system, which alerted them. A police team immediately reached the spot and evacuated the SC Colony situated near the pipeline,” said Medak SP B. Sumathi.

Officials from Sadashivapet police station added that nearly 500 people were moved from the village after the fire broke out. Three fire tenders arrived at the spot but could not douse the fire for hours with water and foam.

A special maintenance team from RGTIL stopped the gas flow by closing two valves situated at Zaheerabad and Patancheru to reduce the pressure.