Fire brigade personnel and officials of the Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) made frantic efforts and doused the fire by noon.

Officials put the losses at around Tk 5 lakh.

There is no report of losses of private property as the blaze was on a crop field.

The fire broke out as condensate thieves drilled a hole in the pipeline.

Three people were arrested last night in the town for their alleged involvement in drilling the hole. The arrestees are Pronojit Pal, Nidhu Pal and Swapan Kumar Pal.

Divisional Commissioner of Sylhet Abdul Hakim Mondol, who visited the spot yesterday morning, said it appears from primary observation the fire originated from on oil pilferage point. He declined to say anything more before an investigation is conducted.

The divisional commissioner asked the district administration, police and intelligence agencies to unearth the cause of the fire incident.

A team of experts from the Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) led by its Director (operation) Abdus Saleque has started repair of the damaged pipeline.

Saleque told The Daily Star their 'preliminary assumption' is that the fire broke out due to oil pilfering from the pipeline.

He said that in the recent years, some gangs are pilfering oil from pipelines at different points from Sylhet to Brahmanbaria. They have traced 72 cases of such pilferage with the latest one yesterday. But this one is the first case of fire on the pipeline, he mentioned.

The fire burnt about 20,000 litres of oil causing a loss of around Tk 5 lakh, the director thought.