A helicopter belonging to Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco crashed in the Kingdom’s Ras Tanura, killing 14 people, the Saudi state news agency reported on Sunday.
The cause of the helicopter crash is yet to be determined, and an investigation is ongoing. Ras Tanura is home to the largest refinery in the West Asian region, and it is operated by Saudi Aramco.
According to a report by the Saudi Press Agency, all the people killed in the crash, which happened on Sunday morning at 6am, were citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi ministry of energy expressed its condolences to the families of the people killed in the crash.
“The ministry of energy extends its deepest condolences and sincere sympathies to the families of the deceased, praying that Almighty God grants them mercy and forgiveness and accepts them among the martyrs. Indeed, we belong to God, and to Him we shall return,” the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA.
Aramco had resumed crude oil loadings on Friday at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf after they were halted for nearly four months. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has joined a rush to move cargoes after West Asian producers ramped up oil and gas output and exports ahead of an interim deal to halt the war between the United States and Iran.
