Five workers injured after blaze engulfs Iran oil pipelines

Firefighters in Iran's oil-rich southwestern region of Khuzestan have brought a blaze that engulfed two oil and gas pipelines under control, state media reported.

The IRNA report said five workers were slightly injured when the fire broke out after a bulldozer on Monday crashed into the pipeline that transfers crude to a nearby port for export.

"While a repair operation was being carried out by oil and gas technicians on a 42-inch pipeline used for exporting oil five kilometres off Omidiyeh near Salehabad village, an oil leakage occured and the pipeline exploded," Omidiyeh county governor Mehran Rafie told The Associated Press. "Forty minutes later the fire spread. Salehabad village was immediately evacuated and technicians began securing the area to prevent further oil leaking. Meanwhile, the fire caused another 12-inch gas pipeline to blow up as well."

Authorities evacuated a small, nearby village out of fear the blaze could spread.

Local oil official Ebrahim Piramoun told IRNA that the fire hasn't fully been put out due to fuel left over at the site. Piramoun says other nearby pipelines continued their regular operations.

Iran's aging infrastructure is at a heightened risk of such incidents. In March, a gas pipeline explosion in Khuzestan killed at least five people.