Qatar fatal restaurant explosion leads to four being jailed
03 August 2015
On July 31 a Qatari court sentenced the four deemed responsible for the Doha gas-tank explosion on February 24, 2014, to periods of imprisonment of up to five years. The blast in a Turkish restaurant killed 11 and injured a further 42, and the court further directed the defendants to compensate the families of the victims with blood money.
Stock image
The restaurant was closed at the time. An investigation found that the gas leading to a pizza oven had been left on overnight and was ignited by a spark from a refrigerator inside the restaurant.
Four men were charged with involuntary manslaughter, involuntary/accidental harm and the damaging of property belonging to others. They were a WOQOD (Qatar Fuel) supervisor, a Qatar Gas supervisor, the restaurant’s baker and the restaurant’s accountant.
The court ordered the accused to pay 100,000 Qatari Riyals ($27,500) in blood money to the families of the deceased and up to 10,000 Riyals to the injured.