A massive fire all but completely destroyed a lubricant and petroleum products factory in Jeddah’s industrial area early Thursday morning.

Civil Defense forces stopped the fire from spreading to neighboring units, which would have otherwise caused destruction of massive scale given the presence of highly hazardous substances on site.

“Eleven fire-fighting teams and three rescue squads contained the fire, which could have easily spread thanks to high temperatures and flammable material,” said Col. Saeed Sarhan, regional Civil Defense spokesman.

“The factory is huge and contained 10 tanks with flammable liquid. There were two 20,000-liter capacity tanks located underground, four tankers with a 40,000-liter capacity and another four with a 60,000-capacity on site, all filled with petroleum derivates.”

He added: “Thankfully, only one employee was lightly injured and was transferred to a nearby hospital,” he said. “He is stable, while a Civil Defense worker who was also got minor injuries as operations ensued is also said to be recovering in hospital.”

He said: “Rescue teams were backed up by ambulances at the scene. The entire factory is gutted and a case has been filed against the owner to look into their failure to comply with the safety standards.”

 
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