What happened

An explosion struck the Petronas-operated Sabah–Sarawak gas pipeline near Long Ugui in Lawas, Sarawak, destroying an excavator and several vehicles and creating a fire radius of about 400 metres. One worker, found dead inside the destroyed excavator, was killed and two others were injured. Authorities investigated whether the blast was linked to soil movement or to nearby construction of the Sabah–Sarawak Link Road. It was the first fatal incident on the 500km pipeline, which had previously experienced non-fatal explosions in 2014, 2018 and 2020, and a separate leak in September 2022 that forced Petronas to declare force majeure on gas supply to the MLNG Dua LNG plant.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.