Gas leak from broken pipeline forces Kirkuk village evacuation

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A gas pipeline burst in the village of Kiziliar, west of Kirkuk city on Tuesday, as construction workers were digging near the area, forcing residents of the village to evacuate out of fear for their lives.

"A 12-inch pipeline for gas transportation was broken due to a tractor shovel working in the area, dispersing a large amount of gas in the area," an official from Iraq’s state-owned North Oil Company (NOC) told Rudaw’s Hardi Mohammed.

Kirkuk’s health directorate reported that at least 12 people were hospitalized after experiencing breathing difficulties due to the leak, adding that all of them have received medical treatment and been discharged.

Residents of the village told Rudaw that the pipeline had been previously damaged multiple times but never properly fixed.

“We were conducting an exam in when the pipeline burst, and we quickly evacuated the school,” said Principal Mikail of the Kiziliar School, adding that all of the students and teachers, numbering around 120 people, were able to escape from the leak.

The NOC together with Kirkuk’s civil defense teams are trying to resolve the massive gas leak, which has not been controlled as of the writing of this article.

The NOC is one of the 16 companies comprising the Iraqi oil ministry with its headquarters in Kirkuk. The company operates in several fields in the country, including Bay Hassan and Dawd Gurg.