Dubai: The six Indians who were among the 28 people killed in a major gas pipeline blaze in a desert area of eastern Saudi Arabia were identified today.

The six are Patel Balwant Prabhubhai, Manjit Singh, Mohammed Halim, Mohammed Hussain Pathan, Aziz Hussain and Biju Kolancherry George, Indian officials said here, quoting a list released by state oil conglomerate Aramco. It was not immediately clear which states they hailed from.

Of the 28 killed, five are Saudi nationals, six Indians, 11 Pakistanis, five Bangladeshis and a Nepalese, the officials said. Of those killed, the Saudi nationals worked for the Aramco, while the others worked for two contractors, both Indians, they said. The blaze erupted last night on the Haradh-Uthmaniyah gas pipeline, 30 kms from a major gas processing plant at Hawiyah, as maintenance work was being carried out.

"Necessary operational adjustments have been made to the gas system to normalise operations to ensure continuity of fuel supply," the company said.
The Hawiyah plant is one of the major gas processing plants in Saudi Arabia, built in the desert near the Al-Ghawar oil field, the world's largest, and south of the city of Dhahran, an oil hub.

Source : PTI