Negligence blamed for Kuwait refinery explosion

Published August 1st, 2000 - 03:00 GMT

(AFP, Kuwait) - A parliamentary commission of inquiry said Monday that the explosion at Kuwait's biggest oil refinery in June was due to "negligences" and "mistakes.""Negligence and un-premeditated mistakes were the cause of the accident, the sabotage theory has not been proven," according to the commission president, Ahmad Baqer, quoted by the official KUNA news agency.

Commission representative Meshaan Azmi said the negligence involved eight people, six Kuwaitis and two expatriate workers whose nationalities were not given.Baqer said he would release details of the inquiry Tuesday at a news conference.

The Al-Ahmadi refinery, to the south of the capital, was completely shut down in June to establish the extent of the damage from the explosion, which left seven dead and 50 injured. Production was partially restored in July. The capacity of the al-Ahmade refinery at 450,000 barrels per day represents half Kuwait's total refining capacity.

Kuwait announced July 28 that it quickly brought under control a fire which started in another refinery, Mina Abdullah, in which there were no casualties.