Fifty-four injured and 18 missing after explosion at Qatar LNG site, authorities say

An explosion and fire at Qatar's Ras Laffan LNG processing site injured 54 people and left 18 missing, with emergency teams containing the fire and conducting search operations.

Fifty-four people were injured and another 18 were missing after an explosion at Qatar's core LNG processing site ‌of Ras Laffan on Sunday, authorities said. An incident during the start-up ‌of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City resulted in an explosion and fire at the Barzan local gas supply facility on Sunday evening, QatarEnergy said in a statement. Emergency response teams ⁠were deployed ​to contain the fire, ⁠which was now under control, it said. Qatar's Interior Ministry said in a statement that ⁠54 people had been injured and 18 were missing and being searched for. It attributed ​the explosion to a "technical accident" and said there was no leak that ⁠posed a threat to public safety. It said the Qatari International Search and Rescue Group, in cooperation ⁠with ​the civil defence teams, was conducting search operations for the 18 missing people.

QatarEnergy did not indicate whether the explosion had caused any damage to ⁠the plant, which supplies gas to the domestic market. A Reuters witness earlier reported that ⁠a loud ⁠boom was heard in the capital Doha, south of the Ras Laffan facility.