One killed, several injured in Basra oil depot explosion
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least one person was killed and several others injured on Sunday as a result of an explosion at an oil storage depot in Basra province.
Videos submitted to Rudaw showed massive thick plumes of smoke billowing into the sky from a turbine that exploded at a storage tank in the Zubair 1 Oil Depot in al-Burjasiya, Basra province.
"Our teams have arrived on the scene to put out the flames," Nawas Sabah, media officer of the Iraq Civil Defense Department, told Rudaw.
"We cannot estimate the scale of the damage right now, unless the fire has been brought under control," he added.
Iraqi oil ministry said at least one employee of the Basra Oil Company was killed and four other people were injured in the incident. A local official in Basra told Rudaw earlier in the day that an engineer was killed and 25 laborers were injured in the explosion.
"Safety and firefighting teams from the oil sector, Basra province and all supporting entities in the oil sector were immediately mobilized to control the fire. The fire area has been partially controlled, while efforts continue for complete extinguishment," said the ministry in a statement.
Fires at oil facilities are a common occurrence in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, due to negligence, and lack of safety standards.
Iraq's southern Basra province is home to some of Iraq's largest oil fields, and main oil export terminals and strategic refineries.
The Basra Oil Company, the largest oil producer in Iraq, exports millions of barrels per day from the province's numerous oil fields.
[Source: Rûdaw English]
