Saudi Arabia: Fire at Marafiq power plant in Yanbu kills maintenance workers

Dubai: A fire at a Marafiq Company steam turbine unit in Yanbu Industrial City has resulted in the deaths of a number of maintenance workers, the company has confirmed in a statement.

The blaze broke out last week in one of the support units for the boiler of the sixth unit within the company's steam turbine division, according to the statement published on Tadawul, Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange.

Marafiq said the affected unit was already out of service for annual maintenance at the time of the incident. While the fire was fully contained and extinguished, it led to fatalities among workers employed by the company’s maintenance contractor., the company said on Sunday.

The company assured that services to consumers remained unaffected by the fire. “Marafiq is working closely with the relevant authorities to investigate the cause of the incident and is currently conducting a comprehensive assessment of the damages,” the statement read.

Authorities have yet to disclose the exact number of casualties or the extent of the damage from the fire that happened on Thursday.