Fire in southern China LNG terminal claims five lives

A major fire at the PipeChina-operated Beihai liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in southern China has claimed the lives of five people.

The incident left three others injured and one person missing, according to local government officials.

The fire broke out on 2 November near the No.2 storage tank at the LNG terminal near the port of Tieshan in Beihai, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Several media sources reported that the fire has been extinguished.

Rescue operations are currently underway at the site.

An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the accident, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

An undisclosed Beihai staff member told Reuters via phone that terminal operations have been suspended because of the fire and it had not been decided when they would resume.

According to the staff member, the terminal’s first phase was among the facilities impacted by the suspension of the operations.

The Beihai terminal was spun off from Sinopec in September this year. It is now owned and managed by newly established pipeline company ‘PipeChina’.