Firefighters spraying water on the smouldering debris at the blast site yesterday morning. PICTURE: Najeer Feroke
By Salman Siddiqui/Staff Reporter
Eleven people were killed and 35 injured when an LPG tank exploded on the roof of a restaurant in Doha yesterday.
The explosion occurred around 10.12am on the roof of Istanbul Turkish restaurant near The Landmark Mall in Duhail, north Doha, and facing Al Shamal Expressway.
“The majority of the dead and injured are Asian and Arab expatriates,” Staff Major General Saad bin Jassim al-Khulaifi, Director General of Public Security, told a press conference at the Ministry of Interior’s National Command Centre a few hours later.
All the dead and 33 of the injured were men. A woman and a girl were the other injured.
A manager of Tasty Restaurant, located next door to the Turkish joint, told Gulf Times that nine of the deaths happened inside their eatery.
“Seven of the dead - four Nepalis and three Indians - were our staff and the two others were employees of a nearby laundry who had come to have food at our restaurant,” he explained.
A Philippine embassy official told Gulf Times that among the dead were two of their nationals, Romar Faduhilao and Charlie Decastro; while another two Filipinos were admitted to the Hamad General Hospital.
“Our Nepali employees who died are Yem Bahadur, Durga Bahadur, Thanka Bahadur and Mann Bahadur and the Indians are Malappuram Pulikkal Palangode Abdul Salam, Kozhikode Muchukunnu K K Manol Riyas and Zacharia from Koyilandy, all natives of Kerala,” the Tasty Restaurant official said.
In a statement, Hamad Medical Corporation said the injured undergoing treatment at the Hamad General Hospital comprised 12 Indians, nine Nepalis, five Pakistanis, including a minor girl, two each from The Philippines and Egypt and one each from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Yemen, Tunisia and Qatar.
“Out of the 11 dead, four had died on the spot, while the rest passed away on the way to the hospital,” explained Staff Major General al-Khulaifi.
The force of the explosion was so huge that it left a trail of destruction within a 50m radius, shattering glass panes of many nearby buildings.
Several vehicles at the blast site were thrown off and suffered heavy damages. One part of the Istanbul restaurant building had also partially collapsed. The blast caused a severe traffic jam on Al Shamal Expressway when all roads leading to accident scene were shut to make way for the Civil Defence and rescue teams.
HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani visited the site and oversaw the rescue efforts. He has also directed the authorities concerned to conduct a thorough, accurate and transparent investigation of the accident.
Civil Defence’s Director of Operations Department Brigadier Hamad Othman al-Duhaimi said that the Civil Defence responded within eight minutes of the distress call and firefighters quickly put out a small fire caused by the explosion.
Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya) Captain Khamees al-Muraikhi said that his Search and Rescue team had deployed 60 rescuers and used 18 vehicles for the entire operation. Page 22
