Iranian-Kurdish worker dies in Duhok refinery fire

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A blacksmith from Bokan in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province died after an illegal oil refinery caught fire in Duhok province on Thursday. 

Rizgar Mohammed Amin, 30, moved to Duhok province approximately two months ago along with his wife to work as a blacksmith at the illegal Roj oil refinery in Duhok’s Kashe industrial area.  

“We deployed our teams from Semel and Batel to here because they were close. When they arrived here, the fire had spread. We deployed two more teams from Duhok. The fire was controlled but caused life and material losses,” said Sharqi Sulaiman of Duhok’s central fire station.

The cause of the fire is unknown, but a witness said there was a lack of fire extinguishers at the scene. 

“We were at the refinery and we heard the sound of an explosion. We realized that it had caught fire. There is no extinguisher here except for a tank we have. We did our best but we could only save the other refinery,” said Haji Salam, also Amin's neighbour.

Mayor of Kashe Sarkaft Khalil told Rudaw that all refineries in the area are “unofficial.”

“Some of them have been closed before but some of them were granted permission to work to meet the needs of the area, including Roj refinery in Duhok. They were permitted to produce diesel, electricity, and [produce fuel for] generators in Duhok.”

However, he said that all the illegal refineries will be removed “soon” - a promise previously made by several senior officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) with little results.

Dlshad Abdulrahman, head of Duhok’s environment office, told Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahseen on Thursday that approximately 35 refineries are in Kashe, but have been set up illegally. 

“They have no environmental or safety measures,” he said. 

The illegal refineries have devastated Kurdistan Region’s soil and public health. Some are allegedly supported by powerful officials. 
 
Additional reporting by Hunar Rasheed