石油精製施設で大規模火災、１４人負傷　イラク

【アルビルＡＦＰ＝時事】イラク北部のクルド人自治区にある石油精製施設で１２日、大規模な火災が発生した。火は約２０時間にわたり燃え続けたが、当局が翌１３日に火を消し止めたと発表した。火災で１４人が負傷した。（写真は、イラク北部クルド人自治区のアルビルにある石油精製所で発生した大規模火災）
　市民防衛隊によると、火災が発生したのは中心都市アルビルの南西にある施設で、１２日夜に大型の原油タンクから出火し、別の施設にまで広がった。
　隊の報道官は、消火活動には消防隊員１５０人が当たったとし、火災で１４人が負傷、うち２人が重傷だと述べた。
　また、被害を受けたタンクには５０００トン以上の燃料が貯蔵されていたとし、推定被害額は８００万ドル（約１２億６０００万円）に上るとした。
　市民防衛隊によると、タンク４基と消防車４台に被害が出たとされる。出火の原因は分かっていない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/06/14-16:53）

A massive fire at an oil refinery in Iraqi Kurdistan raged for about 20 hours and injured at least 14 firefighters who on Thursday finally brought the blaze under control.
The fire broke out in a major crude oil tank on Wednesday night before spreading to a second refinery on a road southwest of Arbil, capital of the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, the civil defence agency said.
Thick plumes of black smoke and balls of orange flame rose into the sky above the facility, an AFP photographer reported.
The civil defence agency said the fire, the cause of which remains unclear, started in one refinery before spreading to another.
A spokesman for the agency, Shakhwan Saeed, told a news conference on Thursday evening: The fire has been 100 percent contained, and there is no longer any danger for the surrounding refineries.
He said 150 rescuers had been mobilised and 14 had been injured, with two in critical condition.
Arbil governor Omed Khoshnaw earlier said three rescuers were being treated in hospital for burns and another 10 suffered breathing difficulties.
The main storage tank that was impacted contained more than 5,000 tonnes of fuel, he said, putting the estimated cost of the damage caused at $8 million.
The Arbil civil defence said four fuel tanks as well as three fire trucks were burned.
So far, we don't know what caused it, said Khoshnaw, adding that it could have been an electrical short circuit.
Saeed noted that the facility did not meet any of the standards set by the civil defence agency for safety.
With Iraq experiencing scorching summers, the country has seen multiple fires in recent weeks, affecting shopping centres, warehouses and hospitals.
Iraq is one of the world's biggest oil producers and crude oil sales make up 90 percent of budget revenues.
But exports from the Kurdistan region have been halted for more than a year in a dispute over legal and technical issues.