Deadly fire erupts at Kuwait's largest refinery unit
The company says the fire, the second to erupt at the Mina al Ahmadi oil refinery in three months, broke out at a gas liquefaction unit that had been out of service for maintenance work.
The refinery was built to handle 25,000 barrels of oil a day and recently underwent an expansion to reduce its emissions and boost capacity to 346,000 barrels a day.
A fire has erupted in Kuwait during maintenance work at a major oil refinery, killing two workers and critically injuring five others.
Kuwait National Petroleum Company said on Friday that the fire killed two Asian contract workers.
Their bodies were discovered on site.
This is the second fire to erupt at the Mina al Ahmadi oil refinery in as little as three months.
In October, the state-owned oil company reported a fire had erupted at the facility, with some workers suffering from smoke inhalation and others being treated for light burns.
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Five in critical condition
Initially, the company had said that 10 workers were injured in the fire, with five being treated at a nearby hospital for severe burns and another two for moderate burns.
Others received treatment at an on-site clinic.
The company later said that the five with severe burns were transferred to another hospital in critical condition.
The company said the fire broke out at a gas liquefaction unit that had been out of service for maintenance work.
It said the fire was extinguished and that operations at the refinery were not affected because the unit damaged was already out of service.
Kuwait, a nation home to 4.1 million people, has the world’s sixth-largest known oil reserves.
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