HOM KARKI

A Qatari court has sentenced the prime accused of the 2014 gas tank explosion that killed 11 workers, including four Nepalis, to five years in prison, directing them to compensate the family of the victims with “blood money”.

On February 24, 2014, a gas-tank explosion in the Doha-based Istanbul Restaurant had killed 11 people and injured 30 others. The country’s Lower Criminal Court found four people responsible for maintenance of the gas tank guilty on account of destruction of property, violation of safety laws and four other charges.

The court has sentenced the prime accused to five years in prison and the accomplices to two years and slapped them with a fine ranging between 10,000 and 6,000 Qatari riyal. The court also ordered the convicts to pay 100,000 riyals (approx Rs 2.8million) to the families of the deceased as blood money and between 600 and 10,000 riyals to the injured.

Four Nepali workers— Durga Karki, Yam Bahadur Khatri, Man Bahadur Khatri and Tanka Bahadur Chhetri— all from Baglung district, who were working in the nearby Rubabi Restaurant had lost their lives in the blast. The four people convicted in the case are also migrant workers. Among the prime accused are supervisors in the reputed Qatari gas company, Qatargas.
The Nepali Embassy in Doha has filed a different case for compensation for the victims.

Published on: 1 August 2015 | The Kathmandu Post