Gaza – Ma’an – A 33-year-old Palestinian was burned to death in a tunnel collapse under the border between Gaza and Egypt on Sunday, a medical official told Ma'an.

Two more Palestinians were injured in the collapse and six others were still missing by Sunday afternoon, according to Rafah Abdallah Shahada, director of Abu Yousif An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.

Shahada added that the hospital had received the body of Sami Qishta, 33, and two others who sustained burns and were listed in moderate condition. There was no word on the six missing Palestinians.

The tunnel industry is notoriously dangerous, and dozens of workers are killed each year in workplace accidents. Above the regular collapse of the sandy tunnels, Israeli and Egyptian border police routinely throw explosives into their access points, or flood the passages with water or fuel. More than 150 Palestinians have been killed in such incidents since the siege on Gaza began in 2007.

It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse or burns, but just last Monday two young Gazans were killed and eight others injured when benzene, which was being smuggled through, began to leak. Four workers were injured when one of the Gaza smuggling tunnels in Rafah collapsed two weeks earlier.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a near-total blockade of the Strip by land and sea since June 2007, and the quantities and types of goods allowed into Gaza are subject to tight restrictions. According to the UN and aid agencies some items, such as construction materials needed to rebuild from the recent war, are completely banned. Exports are also prohibited, and Gaza's 1.5 million residents are banned from traveling.