Fire at Saudi Arabia oil workers’ residential compound kills at least 11
In this image released by the Saudi Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Civil Defense, smoke billows from a fire at a residential complex used by state oil giant Saudi Aramco in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2015.
A large fire broke out Sunday in the basement of a sprawling residential complex in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich east, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 200, officials in the kingdom said.
The blaze began early in the morning in a multistory residential compound known as Radium in the eastern city of Khobar. The complex houses workers for state oil giant Saudi Aramco, which oversees petroleum production in the OPEC powerhouse.
The company said an investigation has begun into the cause of the fire, which sent thick black smoke billowing from the pink-and-tan colored building.
The Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Civil Defense said victims were of various nationalities, without elaborating. Like many companies in the Gulf, Aramco relies heavily on foreign professionals and other migrant workers.
Some of the 219 people reported injured were in critical condition, the directorate said.
The Radium complex is a gated community of eight six-story buildings with a total of 486 residential units as well as swimming pools and other leisure facilities, according to Aramco’s website.
Residents affected by the blaze were being moved to alternate accommodation. Aramco promised to use “all means and available resources” to help those affected.
Khobar was the site of a 1996 truck bombing at a dormitory for U.S. Air Force personnel that killed 19 Americans and wounded 372. The man described as the mastermind of the attack, Ahmed al-Mughassil, was arrested after a nearly two-decade manhunt, American and Saudi officials said last week. The FBI has described him as the head of the armed wing of the Saudi Hezbollah group.
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Source:Indianexpress.com
