DOHA (AFP) — An explosion at a factory in Qatar injured 54 people and left 18 missing, the Gulf state’s interior ministry said Monday.

A “technical incident” caused the blast on Sunday in Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial zone, the ministry said, adding that authorities were searching for the missing.

An Agence France-Presse journalist 20 kilometers away saw flames illuminating the night sky and a plume of smoke rising from the area, home to the world’s largest liquefied natural gas hub. 

Ras Laffan had already been badly damaged in the US-Iran war, with Iranian strikes targeting Gulf energy infrastructure and forcing Qatar to halt gas production.

State-owned firm QatarEnergy said the blast occurred “during the start-up of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City, which resulted in an explosion and fire at Barzan local gas supply facility”.

The interior ministry described the incident as an “internal explosion,” adding in a later statement that a “technical malfunction” was to blame.

“A total of 54 people were injured in the incident that occurred at a factory in the Ras Laffan Industrial City,” the ministry posted on X on Monday, adding that authorities were searching for 18 missing people. 

The tiny emirate, one of the world’s leading liquefied natural gas producers alongside the United States, Australia and Russia, ceased LNG production on March 2 after Iranian drone strikes hit key facilities. 

Further damage from attacks on March 18 was expected to cut LNG export capacity by 17 percent and take three to five years to repair, Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi said at the time.