A fire broke out followed by an explosion on an offshore gas platform (50 to 60 Mm³ of gas/year), at the Northern entrance to the Suez Canal. All of the staff were evacuated. Six teams of fire-fighters supported by helicopters responded to the accident in which there were no casualties. According to the Egyptian Ministry for Petroleum, the gas field’s operation was shut down for equipment maintenance and repair of the well heads. The cause of the accident was unknown. The Ministry for Petroleum announced the creation of an enquiry commission to shed light on the causes. According to the initial findings, the fire broke out on a mobile drilling machine connected to the platform: after an explosion, this device was destroyed and sank into the sea. This first incident was brought under control in the afternoon but fire broke out again shortly afterwards and spread to the entire platform, producing flames over 20 m high. The damage was considerable according to the Ministry for Petroleum without providing any estimation. Seven days later, the fire was still burning although reducing in intensity. The emergency response teams, still on the site, were attempting to create lateral openings using drilling machines. In particular, one of them had to create an oblique borehole so that cement could be injected into the well in question.