A fire broke out in Kuwait’s largest petroleum refinery on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring several others.

In a statement, the Kuwait National Petroleum Company said that the fire erupted as maintenance work was being carried out at the gas liquefaction unit of the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery.

The company said that five people with severe burns were transferred to a hospital in critical condition. Two Asian workers succumbed to the injuries, it added.

The fire has been extinguished, it said, adding that the incident did not affect operations at the refinery./aa