By Ben Millington
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A source from Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) has confirmed that six of its workers were killed in a fire in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia on Sunday morning.
He said all other employees are accounted for and dismissed local media reports earlier this week which claimed a further 40 men were missing and feared dead.
The fire started at a labour residence set up by CCC for employees to work on Saudi Aramco’s Khurasaniyah Gas Plant project, about 80km northwest of Jubail.
Citing an official company report, the source said five of the men killed were Bangladeshi and worked for the company as welders or pipefitters. The sixth man was a pipefitter from India.
The bodies of the men were taken away by local authorities. Another Indian and a Pakistani man also sustained non-life-threatening burns, he said.
The source said Saudi authorities are currently investigating the cause of the fire and CCC’s Athens headquarters has sent its own safety team to also investigate the incident and make possible recommendations.
Some local media reported that 400 men where in the area of the fire when it occurred and workers complained that there was only one fire escape route.
The CCC management or the Civil Defence Department are yet to issue an official public statement.
