Qatar gas plant blast kills 13, injures dozens

A huge blast at a Qatar gas hub killed 13 people and injured 66 others, the Gulf state’s energy minister said on Monday, one of the deadliest accidents at a Gulf energy facility.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the incident, which Saad al-Kaabi said was “an accident and not sabotage or hostile in nature”, after Iranian attacks targeted energy facilities in the Gulf during the Middle East war.

He announced “the tragic loss of 13 lives of our people who hold Indian and Pakistani nationalities. 66 people have been reported injured and are receiving medical treatment, none of whom are in life-threatening condition”.

Earlier, the interior ministry had said a “technical incident” caused the explosion late on Sunday in the Gulf emirate’s Ras Laffan industrial zone.

The blast took place at a unit supplying gas to local firms and reverberated across the capital Doha.

“It will not affect anything regarding export. It will not affect anything regarding our local requirements,” Kaabi said, adding the explosion had “no environmental impact”.

Qatar’s state-owned energy company said the blast occurred “during the start-up of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City, which resulted in an explosion and fire at Barzan local gas supply facility”.