DHAKA, Jan 8: A fire broke out on Friday evening at a gas field in Chhatak, 191kms northeast of Dhaka, causing evacuation from nearby villages.

Although there have been no casualties so far, the devastating fire has caused damage to a number of expensive equipment, including the main drilling rig, worth 500 million takas.

The heat of the fire is being felt one kilometre away from the field. Experts and fire brigade personnel were unable to reach the site due to the tremendous heat.

The local administration has declared an area within a radius of two square kilometres of the gas field as a high-risk zone.