NORTH SINAI, Egypt: Fire broke out in the main Egyptian-Israeli gas pipeline and has been controlled, security sources said. GASCO Company is responsible for closing the connecting valves in the main gas pipeline that links between two gas stations, el-Nagah and el-Medan. The pipeline was on fire for a long time, although the valves were tightly closed. The fire flames reached 200 meters in the air. The injured and death were not reported because the explosions were far away from residential areas. Some masked people tried to break into the gas stations of Nagah and el-Medan but their attempt was foiled because of intensified police guards. The masked perpetrators, who were inside 4WD cars, blew up the gas pipeline away from the two stations, eyewitnesses said. The masked people put explosives under the main pipeline that feeds the stations gas flow to houses in al-Arish and factories in Sinai, as well as exported gas to Jordan and Israel. There was an outage on the international road as explosions broke out the power supply. The perpetrators dug around 200 meters underground because that is where the main gas pipeline is buried, the North Sinai Security Directorate Saleh al-Masry said. After cooling down the gas pipeline, it will be checked and investigated to know what kind of substance the explosions were made of. Security forces recently planted cameras to secure the area. The gas explosion is expected to accelerate the gas crisis between Egypt and Israel. Other sources said Palestinian elements are possibly involved in carrying out this seventh explosion. The discontinuation of gas flow could lead to financial causalities reaching U.S. $10 billions for Jordan and U.S. $1.34 billion for Israel. Arabic here Arabic here
