Yemen: Secondary fire injures 21 workers at Aden oil refinery

Firefighters were already working to contain a blaze which broke out on Friday

Firefighters try to contain a fire at the Aden oil refinery one day after an explosion in the refinery in Aden, Yemen January 12, 2019. Reuters

A secondary blast injured 21 workers at the Aden oil refinery on Saturday evening as they fought to contain an earlier blaze which broke out the day before.

On Friday, a storage tank holding 7000 tonnes of diesel caught alight at Aden's main oil refinery in Al Buraika city. Heat from that fire caused another reservoir to catch fire on Saturday, a source at the refinery told The National.

"The new explosion erupted in a neighbouring reservoir tank because it was affected by the tremendous heat and the huge pressure from the fire which in the first reservoir tank last night,” the source said.

The injured were taken to a nearby hospital with only one worker suffering serious injuries, Al Bouraika City police Captain Saleh Lahman Ba'awda told The National.

The cause of Friday’s fire is yet to be established.

"We are carrying out an investigation with 150 of the refinery workers so far to know the reasons for the fire, but we haven't got the truth yet," Captain Ba'awda said.

Firefighters are still working to control the blaze.

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