An official spokesman of General Authority for Civil Aviation Abdulhamid bin Hammad Aba Al-O'ri said that the results of preliminary investigations of the blast of a fuel tank of one of Tri-Star old planes sold to a company at Taif Regional Airport on Saturday evening indicated that the reasons for the explosion and consequent fire in the wing of the plane have been due to the failure of the company contracted to dismantle the aircraft (Regency Projects Company) to follow the standards and industrial safety procedures required for the completion of the work assigned to it. In a supplementary statement, he said that investigations pointed out that the company workers while dismantling parts of the plane using an electrical saw to separate components of the wing from each other, including the fuel tank without verifying that the tank had no remnants of fuel and emptied it properly, consequently the fire broke out and the tank exploded leading to the death of four workers and the injury of another one. The Authority expressed its regret and grief over the incident, praying to Almighty Allah to bless the souls of the dead and for a speedy recovery for the injured worker.
