Rescue crews in Qatar were combing the wreckage of a gas facility on Monday for 18 people still missing after an explosion tore through the country’s main energy hub, the interior ministry said.
The ministry attributed the Sunday blast to a “technical malfunction” and characterised what happened as an “internal explosion.” It confirmed on X that “A total of 54 people were injured in the incident that occurred at a factory in the Ras Laffan Industrial City.”
QatarEnergy, the state firm, pinned the timing of the disaster on operations resuming at the site. According to the company, the incident took place “during the start-up of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City, which resulted in an explosion and fire at Barzan local gas supply facility.”
The fire was visible far beyond the plant. From a vantage point 20 kilometres (12 miles) out, an AFP journalist watched smoke billow upward and flames brighten the night sky over the zone, which holds the largest liquefied natural gas operation on the planet.
This is not the first crisis to strike Ras Laffan this year. The complex sustained heavy damage during the US-Iran war, when Iranian forces went after Gulf energy installations and Qatar was compelled to suspend gas output.
That earlier disruption hit hard. Iranian drones struck major facilities on March 2, prompting Qatar — which ranks among the top LNG suppliers worldwide alongside the United States, Australia and Russia — to stop production entirely. A second round of attacks on March 18 was projected to slash export capacity by 17 percent, with repairs expected to run anywhere from three to five years, Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi said at the time.
