Monday, June 22, 2026 - An explosion at a factory in Qatar injured 54 people and left 18 missing, the Gulf state’s interior ministry said Monday.
A “technical incident” caused the blast on Sunday in Qatar’s
Ras Laffan industrial zone, the ministry said, adding that authorities were
searching for the missing.
An AFP journalist 20 kilometres (12 miles) away saw flames
illuminating the night sky and a plume of smoke rising from the area, home to
the world’s largest liquefied natural gas hub.
Ras Laffan had already been badly damaged in the US-Iran
war, with Iranian strikes targeting Gulf energy infrastructure and forcing
Qatar to halt gas production.
State-owned firm QatarEnergy said the blast occurred “during
the start-up of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City, which resulted in an
explosion and fire at the Barzan local gas supply facility”.
The interior ministry described the incident as an “internal
explosion”, adding in a later statement that a “technical malfunction” was to
blame.
“A total of 54 people were injured in the incident that
occurred at a factory in the Ras Laffan Industrial City”, the ministry posted
on X on Monday, adding that authorities were searching for 18 missing people.
The tiny emirate, one of the world’s leading liquefied
natural gas producers alongside the United States, Australia and Russia, ceased
LNG production on March 2 after Iranian drone strikes hit key facilities.
Further damage from attacks on March 18 was expected to cut
LNG export capacity by 17 per cent and take three to five years to repair,
Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi said at the time.
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