Saudi Gazette report

RABIGH – A worker was killed in a fire that swept through a steel plant in the industrial area of Rabigh on Thursday.

Col. Saeed Sarhan, spokesman of the Civil Defense in Makkah region, said that the Civil Defense operations center received information about the fire around Thursday noon.

The Civil Defense teams rushed to the scene and evacuated all the people from the area. He said that the fire broke out from a crude oil tank at the plant and rapidly spread to the neighboring warehouse of compressed oxygen gas cylinders and accommodation of the plant workers. The firefighters battled the blaze and extinguished it.

The criminal investigation wing of Rabigh police and other agencies have launched an investigation into the incident, Col. Sarhan added.