A government investigation committee reveals the existence of 77 illegal and unlicensed gas stations in Aden

Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak received today, Thursday, the report of the investigation committee into the fire and explosion of the Taj gas pump for filling cars with gas in Mansoura District in the interim capital, Aden, which resulted in human and material losses.

This came during the Prime Minister's reception in the interim capital, Aden, today, Thursday, of the committee formed pursuant to Prime Minister's Decision No. 36 of 2024, according to the Yemeni News Agency "Saba".

The committee is headed by the Director General of the Yemeni General Oil and Gas Corporation, Mohammed Awad Thabet, and includes the Deputy Governor of Aden, Salah Al-Aqil, the Head of the Civil Defense Authority, Mohammed Al-Shab’an, the Director General of Criminal Evidence at the Ministry of Interior, Abdulrahman Bahmish, the representative of the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Mohammed Bahashwan, and the Director General of Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, Fawaz Al-Awaidani.

The Prime Minister was informed by the committee of the work mechanism it followed and the field visits it carried out to the accident site to view the damage and investigate the facts and circumstances of the accident, in addition to examining and studying all the data and investigation results contained in the reports of the security services and the competent authorities in the Aden Police, the Civil Defense Authority, the General Administration of Criminal Evidence, the Yemeni Gas Company and the local authority.

She reviewed the details of the fire and explosion incident and the resulting losses, stressing that the pump that exploded was not licensed by the Yemeni Gas Company and the local authority and that it was operating without its commitment to providing the minimum security and safety requirements that are supposed to exist in gas stations and pumps.

The investigation committee revealed that the number of gas pumps currently in Aden is 122, 77 of which are illegal and unlicensed.

The investigation results report included a number of recommendations, including the need for the security services to expedite the completion of the ongoing investigation procedures related to the Taj pump explosion incident and to bring its owner, Mohsen Abdullah Al-Hadi, who is still at large, to investigate him and find out the real reasons behind the explosion.

The recommendations also included taking the necessary measures to form committees from the relevant authorities to re-evaluate and correct the conditions of the gas pumps in Aden and the liberated governorates and to determine the legal procedures that must be applied to the violating pumps that do not meet the standards and conditions for granting licenses, security and safety.

The committee recommended issuing urgent directives to the authorities concerned with granting licenses for gas pumps, to stop granting and renewing permits and licenses for gas pumps until the committees complete the evaluation and correction of their conditions and agree on the unified guide and mechanism to regulate the process of granting permits.

Last Saturday, the Yemeni Gas Company announced that it had not granted a license to the random gas station that exploded, stressing that it had addressed the local authorities in the liberated governorates and the interim capital, Aden, to remove the random gas stations in residential areas, neighborhoods, and districts that do not meet the security and safety requirements and do not hold any licenses to practice their activity from the company.