Over 66 Injured as Barzan Plant Explosion Rocks Ras Laffan Industrial City
Key Points:
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Massive Blast at Qatar’s Barzan Gas Plant Kills 13 Workers
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Jamshedpur’s Raza Ali Imam Among Victims, Family in Mourning
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Indian Embassy, Foreign Ministry Working to Repatriate Bodies
JAMSHEDPUR – A powerful explosion tore through the Barzan gas facility in Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, leaving 13 workers dead, including a resident of Jamshedpur.
Officials said the deceased include 12 Indian nationals and one Pakistani worker. Among the Indians was Raza Ali Imam, a resident of Dhatkidih A-Block, whose death has plunged his locality into grief.
The Indian Embassy in Doha is reportedly maintaining constant contact with Qatari authorities following the tragedy. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar expressed deep sorrow over the incident and offered condolences to the bereaved families.
Jaishankar has previously stepped in on sensitive cases involving Indian nationals working abroad. He has earlier raised concerns over the deaths of Indians employed overseas.
Indian officials are reportedly expediting the paperwork required to send the bodies of the deceased back home. Grieving relatives are anxiously awaiting the return of their loved ones’ remains.
Imam worked as an instrument technician with Qatar National Facilities Services. News of his death reached his family on Monday, triggering scenes of intense grief at his residence.
Neighbours and relatives reportedly kept arriving at the house through the night to offer support. He leaves behind a wife, a seven-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son.
His young children are said to be in shock and unable to process the sudden loss. The family is now waiting for his body to be flown back to Jamshedpur.
According to media reports, the plant had recently undergone extensive maintenance work. It had reportedly been restarted only two days before the blast occurred.
The explosion is said to have struck during the facility’s early operational phase, leaving workers little chance to escape. Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi described it as a serious technical accident.
He clarified that there was no evidence of sabotage, conspiracy or any external attack behind the blast. Qatari authorities confirmed that 13 workers died on the spot, while more than 66 others sustained injuries.
The injured reportedly include citizens of India, Nepal, Qatar, Bangladesh, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Nigeria. However, officials said none of the injured were said to be in critical condition.
“He was always the first to help anyone in need,” a neighbour said, recalling Imam’s reputation in the locality. Several local social organisations have also visited the grieving family to extend their condolences.
Deaths of Indian migrant workers abroad have made headlines before. Earlier in March, seven workers from Jharkhand had died in a soil collapse incident in Haryana.
A separate case involving Jharkhand migrant labourers had also drawn attention earlier this June. Embassies and district administrations typically coordinate with families in such situations to ease the process.
Thousands of workers from the state travel to Gulf nations every year in search of better livelihoods. Tragedies of this scale continue to be a painful reminder of the risks they face far from home.
(Written with inputs from IANS)
