DAMMAM, 20 November 2007 -- The death toll from Sunday's natural gas pipeline explosion in the Eastern Province rose to 38 as a special technical panel set up by Saudi Aramco continued its probe yesterday to determine the reason for the blast and the subsequent fire, informed sources said.

Dr. Abdul Mohsen Al-Mulhim, director of King Fahd Hospital in Hofouf, said his hospital received seven Pakistanis injured as a result of the explosion. They were carrying out maintenance work at the Haradh-Othmaniya gas pipeline, 30 km from Hawiyah Gas Plant. At least 60 people were injured in the accident.

Abdallah Jum'ah, CEO of Saudi Aramco, accompanied by a number of his aides, visited the site of the accident to know the reasons for the explosion. Most bodies could not be recognized and required DNA tests to identify them.

King Fahd Hospital in Hofouf was reportedly holding 27 bodies and its mortuary was full. The remaining bodies were transferred to Safa Public Hospital.

Saleh Al-Boushalaibi, who was a supervisor at Aramco (also a former captain of Al-Fatah Club), and Saad Al-Awad, a civil defense officer at the oil company, were among the dead.

A relative of Boushalaibi said he was shocked to hear the news. "Saleh was a nice person and was taking care of his elderly parents, who suffer from kidney failure, diabetes and high blood pressure," he said.

Al-Mulhim of King Fahd Hospital said three of the seven Pakistanis had already left hospital. Sahawat Ghulam, Muhammad Arif, Muhammad Shahid and Aziz Rahmat Khan are still in hospital receiving treatment for first- and second-degree burns.

According to first reports, 28 people were killed and 10 others injured in the fire that broke out around 12.25 a.m. on Sunday.

Aramco said a contractor was operating the site and that the incident did not affect production or distribution. "Necessary operational adjustments have been made to the gas system to normalize operations to ensure continuity of fuel supply," Aramco said in a statement.

An industry source said the gas carried by the pipeline is fed into the domestic network, like all of Saudi Arabia's natural gas production, and is not for export. The fire broke out while workers were welding a plate on the pipeline, the source said, adding that the gas plant was unaffected.

In July this year, four Asian workers died and 12 others were injured in a fire at Ras Tanura oil terminal on the Gulf coast. Aramco said the fire at the North Product Terminal broke out while maintenance work was under way and was brought under control within an hour.

Aramco is undertaking projects to boost output at the natural gas liquids recovery plant in Hawiyah. The Hawiyah plant is one of the Kingdom's major gas-processing plants, built in the desert near the Al-Ghawar oil field, the world's largest, south of Dhahran.

By Faiz Al-Mazrouei

© Arab News 2007