Five dead, 40 injured in Iraq gas tank explosion
World
Five dead, 40 injured in Iraq gas tank explosion
DOHUK (AFP) – Five people died and 40 were injured when a gas tank exploded and sparked a fire in a student dormitory in northern Iraq, authorities said Tuesday.
The blast hit Monday night when a rooftop gas tank leaked at a building housing the student accommodation and a bakery in the Kurdish city of Dohuk.
"The gas leaked, reaching the students rooms, and police arrived to evacuate them," Dohuk s governor, Ali Tatar, told AFP. "Unfortunately at that moment, the explosion occurred."
A student, a bakery worker and three policemen who arrived as part of the emergency response were killed, including the unit s deputy director, Tatar said.
It was the second explosion of a liquefied petroleum gas tank in Iraqi Kurdistan in less than a week.
Last Thursday, 15 people died in Sulaimaniyah when an LPG tank exploded and caused the collapse of a building.
Following Monday s deaths, authorities in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region announced a ban on LPG tanks for domestic use.
The Dohuk blast was the latest tragedy to highlight Iraq s dilapidated infrastructure and lax safety standards.
On November 15 and 17, two fires broke out at Baghdad International Airport. And in late October at least nine people were killed when a gas tanker exploded in Baghdad.
