Fire under control in Iran gas pipeline blast: company official

ANKARA/ DUBAI (Reuters) - A fire from a gas pipeline explosion in Iran early on Saturday near the town of Gonaveh in the southern province of Bushehr, has been brought under control and did not cause any fatalities, the news agency of the country's oil ministry said on Saturday.

Earlier, a local official had told state news agency IRNA that at least one person was killed.

"The fire started at 00:45 ... and was fully contained at 05:00," the head of the Health, Safety & Environment department at Gachsaran Oil and Gas Company, Mohammad Mohseni was quoted as saying by the oil ministry's news agency SHANA.

"There has been no fatality. In total four people are injured," he said.

Mohseni said the polyethylene facilities and the sour gas pipelines in vicinity of the 42-inch gas pipeline were not damaged.

He said the fire and blast had happened during maintenance operations and a committee had been set up to investigate it further.

A local official told state TV that the explosion was not an act of sabotage and "nearby villages have been evacuated as a safety measure."

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi in Ankara, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in Dubai; Editing by Diane Craft and Jane Merriman)

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