Worker dies as fire hits petrochemical refinery in Saudi Arabia

JEDDAH: One worker has been killed after a fire at a petrochemical refinery in western Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, authorities said. 

One person died and 11 others have been injured in the incident, the spokesperson for the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Abdulqader told Saudi TV. The name of the deceased individual has not been released.

Fire crews in Yanbu, a city on the Red Sea coast, battled the blaze at the National Petrochemical Industrial



Company (NATPET) before bringing the situation under control.

In an earlier statement, the spokesman said the industrial accident control teams had rushed to the site in record time when the fire first erupted at 5:40pm. 

He also said the Royal Commission’s environmental monitoring and protection teams were reviewing air quality in the residential and industrial areas. Readings in the first and sixth stations were normal and the wind direction was southeast, he said.