13 Dead in Gas Industry's Biggest Disaster in Decades

Residents in Doha watched the night sky glow orange Sunday as an explosion tore through Qatar's biggest gas facility, killing at least 13 people and injuring 66. The blast hit the Barzan local gas supply plant in the Ras Laffan industrial zone, more than 40 miles from the capital, but was strong enough to rattle windows in central Doha. Qatar's interior ministry called it a
"technical accident" linked to efforts to restart the facility. Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi stressed it was "not sabotage or hostile in nature," the BBC reports. It was the gas industry's deadliest accident since an explosion in Algeria in 2004 killed 27 people, reports Reuters.

All those killed were from India and Pakistan, officials said. The state-owned QatarEnergy said emergency teams quickly contained the fire, but the timing is sensitive: the plant had only restarted operations two days earlier after a long maintenance shutdown. The Ras Laffan. The port is the largest artificial harbor in the world and the largest LNG export facility. An Iranian missile strike on the facility in the early weeks of the war caused extensive damage, the AP reports. Al-Kaabi said LNG exports, which were shut down while the Strait of Hormuz was closed, would not be affected, though it is unclear when the facility will resume operations. An investigation into the cause is underway.