Four men charged over Qatar restaurant explosion

Four men have been charged over the incident.

Four expatriate men have been charged over a Qatar restaurant gas explosion that killed 11 people and injured 35 in February, it was reported.

An Egyptian supervisor at Qatar Gas Group, an Indian supervisor at Qatar Fuel (Woqod) and a Turkish baker and Turkish accountant at Hala Istanbul Restaurant in Doha, where the explosion occurred, have been accused of negligence resulting in the loss of the lives and severe injury to many, risking the safety of others and undue destruction of assets.

They are being held in jail until a court hearing into the matter, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported.

Last month, Qatar’s Ministry of Interior said an investigation found the massive explosion at the restaurant was caused by a gas leak in a pizza oven.

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Brigadier Hassan Ahmed al Obaidly, director of the Forensic Lab Department, reportedly said the leak had filled the restaurant with flammable gas and that electric sparks from “automatic operation and closure of electrical appliances” such as the refrigerator then ignited the gas, causing the explosion.

The investigation concluded that there was no act of sabotage and referred the findings to the Public Prosecution.

The prosecution has accused the Indian of negligence by failing to tell Woqod to stop gas supply to the restaurant until maintenance work was completed and an inspection report submitted.

The Egyptian has been charged with negligence for connecting the restaurant’s kitchen hardware with the new gas line without checking on the maintenance works and without an accomplishment certificate being issued.

The Turkish baker is accused of negligence by failing to close the oven’s gas valve, with the accountant also accused of negligence because he did not check on this, the newspaper reported.

A distribution officer at Woqod, a witness in the case, said that the company did not receive notice that maintenance works were being undertaken at the restaurant to stop the gas supply pending the completion of the works and subsequent certification by Woqod.