Gaza, January 16, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - Four Palestinian work in smuggling tunnel were injured on Saturday in a fire in one of the tunnelunder the border between Gaza Strip and Egypt, medics and witnesses said.

Witnesses said the fire broke out in tunnel used to smuggle fuel after a fuel leak.

Rescue teams, firefighters and ambulances arrived at the scene and pulled out the casualties. They were admitted to hospital in the border town of Rafah, where medics said three were in a critical condition.

Dr. Muawiya Hassanin, the spokesman of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said that the ambulances took three casualties to Naser hospital in south Gaza Strip, but the fourth was transferred to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city as his cases is critical.

According to Gaza rights groups, around 125 Palestinians have died and 590 have been injured in accidents that often involve the collapse of the crude, hand-dug tunnels.

Egypt, meanwhile, began last month the construction of the steel underground barrier along the border with Gaza to stop smuggling tunnels. Egyptian forces also destroyed several of the tunnels.