Maha Christopher
At least 54 people were injured and 18 others reported missing after an explosion at a factory in Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, authorities said on Monday.
According to AFP, the explosion occurred on Sunday following what Qatari authorities described as a technical malfunction at a facility within the industrial zone.
The Gulf state’s Interior Ministry said emergency responders were continuing search operations for those still unaccounted for.
“A total of 54 people were injured in the incident that occurred at a factory in the Ras Laffan Industrial City,” the ministry said in a statement posted on X, adding that efforts were ongoing to locate the missing individuals.
An AFP journalist located about 20 kilometres from the site reported seeing flames lighting up the night sky and thick smoke rising from the area, which hosts one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas production hubs.
QatarEnergy, the state-owned energy company, said the explosion occurred during the restart of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City.
According to the company, the incident led to an explosion and fire at the Barzan local gas supply facility.
The Interior Ministry later described the incident as an internal explosion caused by a technical malfunction.
The blast comes months after Ras Laffan suffered extensive damage during the US-Iran conflict, when Iranian strikes targeted energy infrastructure across the Gulf region.
Qatar suspended liquefied natural gas production on March 2 after drone attacks struck key facilities. Additional attacks later in March were expected to reduce the country’s LNG export capacity by about 17 per cent, with repairs projected to take between three and five years.
Qatar remains one of the world’s leading producers and exporters of liquefied natural gas alongside the United States, Australia and Russia.
Authorities have not yet released details on the condition of those injured or the cause of the reported technical failure.
