ALGIERS - At least 27 people were killed and 72 injured when a huge explosion, apparently caused by a defective boiler, ripped through a liquefied natural gas plant near the eastern Algerian port of Skikda, a government minister said Tuesday.
Health Minister Mourad Redjimi gave the new casualty figures on national radio, revising upwards from 23 the number of people killed in the country's worst industrial accident since independence in 1962.
The blast, which occurred at 6:40 pm (1740 GMT) on Monday, had been caused by a "defective boiler", an official in charge of security at the Skikda complex said.
The official, whose name was not given, said in a radio interview that shortly before the explosion he had heard "bizarre, abnormal noises coming from a boiler."
He said specialists had filed a report "more than a year ago" indicating that the boiler in question was defective. "Superficial repairs" had been carried out on the boiler, he said.
A foreman in a storage depot at the complex had told the radio earlier that he heard "strange noises and abnormal vibrations coming from a boiler and valves before the explosion."
Energy and Mining Minister Chakib Khelil told the radio earlier it was unclear how many people were working in the part of the plant that was devastated by the blast. Rescue workers were digging through the wreckage hunting for more bodies.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika interrupted a visit to Algeria's third largest city, Constantine, to go to the disaster site.
Khelil said the explosion destroyed three liquefaction units at the plant, a huge complex lying 500 kilometres (300 miles) east of the capital Algiers which produced 23 percent of the country's liquified natural gas (LNG).
A woman living close to the plant, about 10 kilometres (six miles) outside Skikda, said: "There was a heavy blast and everything started to shake and the windows of my apartment were blown out."
Speaking haltingly, she said the complex was engulfed in smoke and flames. "We all ran out, we helped the handicapped and the old people," she said, adding: "Many of them were in shock and the children were crying."
A local official, in charge of health in the Skikda region, told state radio that a fire at the plant had been brought under control early Tuesday after raging for almost eight hours.
Health Minister Redjimi said 43 people had been discharged from the hospital in Skikda overnight and five people who were seriously hurt in the blast had been taken to hospital in Annaba, 110 kilometers (66 miles) east of Skikda, but their injuries were not life-threatening.
The Skikda complex has six plants for processing gas and oil products and employs 12,000 people. It exports 15 million tonnes of LNG and oil products to Europe each year, mostly via pipelines to Spain and Italy.
The blast would not affect the flow of gas supplies to Algeria's clients, said Khelil on national radio, but added that production was likely to be slightly "disrupted."
Sonatrach's head of sales Ali Hached said: "Sonatrach has very significant export pipeline capacity. We have capacity currently available which can be mobilised at any given moment to satisfy our clientele, be they in Italy or Spain.
"We have significant LNG production capacity in Algeria, thanks to the complexes in Arzew and Bethioua as well as part of the Skikda complex that will continue to work," he said.
Unlike most other major petroleum exporters, which sell mostly crude oil, Algeria relies to a great extent on exports of gas, a cleaner and lighter energy source, for its foreign currency earnings.
The hydrocarbons sector brought in 24 billion dollars last year, or 96 percent of the country's export revenues, with natural gas and LNG accounting for more than half of that.
The production of LNG was estimated at 26.9 billion cubic metres and its share of export earnings in the gas sector at 45 percent.
Oil prices rose in London Tuesday as the market reacted to the huge blast at the Skikda plant.
The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil for March delivery gained 61 cents to 31.18 dollars in early deals.
New York's reference light sweet crude February contract rose 63 cents to 35.70 dollars in out-of-hours electronic trading.
"There was news overnight about the liquefied natural gas refinery blowing up in Algeria - that is basically why the market is up," said Macquarie Bank analyst Jon House.
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