The explosion at the Qatar LNG plant injured 54, leaving 18 missing, the government says | Power

The blast in Ras Laffan Industrial City was caused by ‘technical failure’, the interior ministry said.

An explosion at a gas refinery in Qatar has injured 54 people and left 18 others missing, officials said.

The Qatari International Search and Rescue Group was dispatched to search for people missing in an “internal explosion” in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar’s Ministry of Interior said on Monday.

The ministry did not provide details of the casualties in the incident, which it said was a “technical failure”.

Officials previously said that public safety teams responding to the scene did not report any injuries.

The ministry has said that there is no leakage at the site that could harm public safety.

QatarEnergy, which manages the industrial complex, said emergency teams were dispatched immediately after the explosion at the Barzan factory and brought the fire to the site.

Ras Laffan Industrial City, located 80km (50 miles) north of Doha, is home to LNG export facilities, which account for a fifth of the world’s production.

In March, the Qatari government announced that an industrial complex had been “severely damaged” after being targeted by Iranian missiles and drones.

QatarEnergy invoked the force majeure clause in some of its contracts to save itself from the consequences of the strikes, which affect customers in Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China.