Fire at Saudi Arabia’s Aramco compound claims 11 lives; 200 injured

An emergency command center was setup at the scene, because some of the people only needed on-scene treatment and did not need to go to the hospital. Over 200 people were injured.

The Civil Defence Department said on its Twitter account that at 11 people have died while at least 219 people were injured, some of them seriously. However, the Civil Defence agency said in a new statement that three Canadians from Asian origins, one Pakistani and one Nigerian woman were among the 10 killed.

The fire broke out Sunday morning in the basement of the building in the city of Khobar. “We are likely to see a gradual deceleration in growth going forward – though it will not be abrupt”, said Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

He also said that an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the blaze. “The smoke was very heavy”, Siddique told AP.

The complex is a gated community with eight six-story buildings and a total of 486 units, according to Saudi Aramco’s website. Like many companies in the Gulf, Aramco relies heavily on foreign professionals and other migrant workers.

Saudi Arabia is likely to post a budget deficit of about 20% of gross domestic product this year, according to the big Monetary Fund. In 1996, a truck bomb attack at a USA Air Force dormitory at Khobar Towers killed 19 Americans and injured hundreds more. USA officials have linked him to the Saudi Hezbollah group.

Stock markets in Saudi Arabia and Egypt fell in early trade on Monday after oil prices dropped and emerging market equities in Asia slipped.