54 injured, 18 missing in Qatar's Ras Laffan disaster
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The scale of the industrial disaster in northern Qatar has significantly widened.
Following a massive explosion at the Barzan local gas supply facility within the Ras Laffan Industrial Area on Sunday evening, the Qatari Ministry of Interior has confirmed that the total number of injured personnel has reached 54.
A massive search-and-rescue operation is now underway.
The Qatari International Search and Rescue Group -an elite unit affiliated with the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya)- has been deployed alongside municipal Civil Defense teams to track down 18 workers who remain completely unaccounted for following the blast.
According to statements released by state-owned energy giant QatarEnergy and the Ministry of Interior, the disaster was caused by an internal "operational incident" and "technical malfunction" that occurred during the start-up phase of the Barzan plant.
The resulting explosion shook the surrounding area and ignited a massive fire that lit up the night sky, with thick smoke visible from miles away.
Emergency response teams managed to contain and extinguish the primary blaze. Authorities have emphasized that despite the scale of the damage to the infrastructure, there has been no hazardous chemical or gas leakage that poses a risk to broader public safety.
The focus of the operation has rapidly shifted to recovery and survival.
The Lekhwiya internal security teams are deploying specialized equipment to navigate the heavily damaged sections of the Barzan gas plant, which is heavily relied upon to meet Qatar's domestic gas demands.
The severe incident comes at a sensitive time for the country's energy sector.
Ras Laffan -the core hub of Qatar's vital liquefied natural gas (LNG) export network- has only recently been working to fully stabilize production following various geopolitical challenges and supply line disruptions across the wider Gulf region earlier in the year.
Specialized engineering and safety teams are currently conducting parallel investigations to determine the precise breakdown that led to the operational failure.
