The logo of state-owned petroleum company QatarEnergy is shown in front of its headquarters in Doha, Qatar. An explosion at a liquefied natural gas plant in Qatar killed 13 and injured dozens Sunday. Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/EPA
An explosion at Qatar’s largest natural gas plant killed 13 people and injured about 66, authorities said.
The blast, caused by a technical malfunction, took place Sunday as the facility restarted its natural gas production after a shutdown caused by the Iran-U.S. war, authorities from the interior ministry said. It took place in the Ras Laffan industrial zone. The nearby Ras Laffan Port is the largest artificial harbor in the world and was targeted by Iranian strikes earlier this year, BBC News reported.
Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister, said that the explosion would not affect the country’s exports and that it was an accident and “not sabotage or hostile in nature.”
All of those killed were workers at the plant, The New York Times reported. They were all from India or Pakistan, BBC News said.
“We convey our deepest condolences to the families of those who have unfortunately passed away in the sad incident at Ras Laffan Industrial City last night,” the Embassy of India in Doha said in a social media post.
Liquified natural gas is important to Qatar’s economy, and the country is one of the world’s largest exporters of it. Ras Laffan is the largest site in the country for producing LNG. Qatar had ceased production earlier in the Iran-U.S. war and has said damage from attacks during the conflict could take years to repair.
The blast turned the city’s skyline orange and was felt by residents more than 43 miles away, BBC News said.
