Gas pipeline explosion kills 28 in Saudi Arabia

An explosion on Sunday killed 28 people working on a natural gas pipeline in eastern Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's national oil company said.

The cause of the fire, which broke out just after midnight, was maintenance work, the company, Saudi Aramco, said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said 12 people were missing and an unspecified number were wounded. The fire did not disrupt gas supplies, he told reporters during an OPEC summit in Riyadh.

"The fire broke out while contract workers were linking a new pipe" to the pipeline during maintenance, Aramco said.

The fire occurred about 30 kilometers (19 …