An explosion tore through Qatar's key natural gas export terminal Sunday night following an operational incident, causing a fire that killed 13 people and hurt 66 others.
QatarEnergy announced that the fire, which broke out after an operational incident during the start-up of operations at the Barzan plant in Ras Laffan Industrial City, has been brought under control.
In a statement, it said the incident resulted in an explosion and fire at the plant, which is dedicated to meeting local gas needs, noting that emergency response teams were immediately deployed and were able to contain and extinguish the fire.
“I would like to emphasize that this was an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature," Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi told a news conference Monday afternoon in Doha, Qatar’s capital.
The minister gave the toll and said the dead came from India and Pakistan. The nationalities of the 66 injured included people from Qatar and a variety of African and Asian nations, al-Kaabi said.
The incident was caused by a technical malfunction during operation, with no leakage posing a risk to public safety, the Ministry of Interior stressed in a post on the X platform.
The Barzan plant had a capacity of almost 1.4 billion standard cubic feet of sales gas per day.
In March, an Iranian missile hit Ras Laffan, sparking a fire that caused “extensive” damage before it was extinguished, authorities said. Qatar had already halted production there because of Iranian attacks.
