Qatar Confirms Indians Among 13 Killed In Blast At Gas Facility
Announcing the casualties, Qatar’s energy minister Saad al-Kaabi said the deceased included Indian and Pakistani nationals. “I find myself today having to do something I have always hoped will never happen, and that is to announce, the tragic loss of 13 lives of our people who hold Indian and Pakistani nationalities,” he told reporters
New Delhi: Qatar on Monday confirmed that Indians were among the 13 people killed in an explosion at the Ras Laffan natural gas facility late on Sunday night.
Announcing the casualties, Qatar’s energy minister Saad al-Kaabi said the deceased included Indian and Pakistani nationals. “I find myself today having to do something I have always hoped will never happen, and that is to announce, the tragic loss of 13 lives of our people who hold Indian and Pakistani nationalities,” he told reporters.
He said 66 others were injured in the blast, which occurred during the restart of operations that had been halted following an Iranian attack in March.
QatarEnergy said investigations were under way to ascertain the cause of the explosion and clarified that the incident had not affected the country’s LNG exports. It added that gas facilities and Ras Laffan Port were functioning normally.
According to media reports, the explosion followed an incident at a domestic gas supply facility in Barzan during restart operations. Authorities said emergency response teams were deployed and the fire was brought under control.
Ras Laffan, a key hub of Qatar’s energy sector, houses major LNG production and export facilities.
