فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
A “massive explosion” in Iran’s largest commercial port on Saturday has killed at least 14 people and injured 750, according to a new toll released by authorities early Sunday, after the fire intensified overnight.
The Shahid Rajaee Port, which handles 85% of Iran’s goods, is located more than a thousand kilometers south of Tehran. Around noon on Saturday (08:30 GMT), a “powerful explosion” occurred on a dock, and the blast was heard dozens of kilometers away.
The port is located near the major coastal city of Bandar Abbas, on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil production passes.
President Massoud Pezeshkian has ordered an investigation to determine the causes of the disaster.
“The death toll in the explosion at Shahid Rajaee Port in Bandar Abbas has risen to 14, and the number of injured has reached 750 so far,” Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said early Sunday on Telegram, after previously reporting eight deaths.
The minister had indicated in the evening that reinforcements were expected from Tehran and other cities, hoping to “extinguish the fire in the coming hours.”
Fueled by the wind, the fire had “intensified” overnight, according to state television, which did not rule out that it would “spread to other areas and other containers.” Live footage showed flames engulfing containers.
In aerial footage taken from a helicopter, the authenticity of which AFP could not verify, a thick column of black smoke in the sky seemed to indicate multiple outbreaks of fire.
In a statement carried by state television, port customs indicated that the disaster was probably caused by a fire in a warehouse storing hazardous and chemical materials.
The force of the explosion was such that a row of semi-trailers was completely blown away and reduced to scrap metal, according to images on social media that AFP could not verify.
“My truck is completely destroyed, and my friend died,” a man filming the scene of the disaster said in a video. The body of a person lying on the ground is visible.
The number of employees present at the port at the time of the explosion is unknown.
Saturday is the first working day of the week in Iran.
State television also announced the closure of all schools in the area on Sunday.
Images from the official Iranian news agency (IRNA) showed a large number of rescuers at the scene and a car covered in bloodstains stuck in a truck, as well as injured people being evacuated from a highway covered in debris, with its concrete safety barrier severely damaged.
The blood transfusion center in Hormozgan province issued a call for blood donations to help the numerous injured.
The United Arab Emirates expressed its solidarity with Iran, referring to “the dead, hundreds of injured, and significant damage.”
According to Chinese state television CCTV, citing the consulate in Bandar Abbas, three Chinese nationals were “slightly injured.”
A video sequence from a surveillance camera, broadcast by the Iranian agency Mehr, showed an explosion in a hangar, which caused a thick cloud of smoke and dust.
“The incident was caused by the explosion of several containers stored in the dock area of Shahid Rajaee Port,” a local fire department official, Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, told state television.
“The shockwave was so strong that most of the buildings in the port were severely damaged,” the Tasnim news agency reported.
However, the National Oil Distribution Company announced that the oil facilities were not damaged and specified that they were operating “normally.”
Explosions of this magnitude are rare in Iran, but the country has experienced several deadly disasters in recent months.
In September, an explosion in a coal mine killed more than 50 people.
Saturday’s explosion occurred as Iranian and American delegations in Oman concluded a third round of talks on the Iranian nuclear program, following previous rounds described as constructive by both sides, who have been enemies for more than four decades.
