RIYADH, Nov 20: A total of 40 people died when fire broke out on a gas pipeline in Saudi Arabia on Sunday in one of the deadliest such incidents to hit the oil-rich kingdom, state oil giant Saudi Aramco said.

Among the dead were six Saudis, five of them Aramco employees, the firm said on its website on Tuesday.

The foreign dead consisted of 18 Pakistanis, seven Indians, seven Bangladeshis, one South African and one Nepalese.

Another nine people were injured.—AFP