The dead number of a powerful explosion in the largest port of Bandar Abbas in Iran has increased to at least 40, with more than 1,200 people injured, state media reported on Sunday, while firefighters worked to completely extinguish the fire.
The explosion occurred on Saturday in the port of Shahid Rajaee in southern Iran, near the hormuz narrow, through which a fifth of the world’s oil production passes.
The Puerto Customs Office said in a statement taken by state television that the explosion probably resulted from a fire that exploded in the storage of hazardous and chemical materials. A regional emergency officer said several containers had exploded.
The New York Times He quoted a person with ties with the body of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Iran, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security issues, saying that what exploded was sodium perclorato, an important ingredient in solid fuel for missiles.
However, Iran’s Ministry of Defense denied the media reports that the explosion can be linked to the mismanagement of solid fuel used for missiles. A ministry spokesman told State TV that the reports were “aligned with enemy psyops”, saying that the area affected by the explosion did not contain any military burden.
Previously, the head of the average red average, Pirhossein Koolivand, in a video shared on the official website of the Government, on Sunday gave an updated toll of 28 people killed and more than 1,000 injured.
The live images on Sunday showed a thick black smoke still visible on the scene. “The fire is under control but it is not yet out,” said a state television correspondent from the site around 20 hours after the explosion.
The explosion was so powerful that he felt and listened about 50 kilometers away, the Far The news agency reported.
Speaking on Sunday at the scene, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said that “the situation has stabilized in the main areas” of the port.
He told State TV that the workers had resumed cargo containers and customs authorization.
Images of the Iranian news agency IRNA On Saturday he was rescuers and survivors walking along a large carpet boulevard of rubble after the explosion in Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 km south of Tehran.
Flames could be seen wrapping a truck and stained blood trailer from the side of a crushed car, while a helicopter dropped water into huge black smoke clouds that extend from behind the stacked shipping containers.
“The shock wave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged,” Tasnim The news agency reported.
Mourning
Citing local emergency services, State TV reported that hundreds of victims “have been transferred to nearby medical centers”, while the Provincial Blood Transfusion Center issued a call for donations.
Saturday is the beginning of the work week in Iran, which means that the port would have been busy with employees.
Three Chinese citizens were “slightly injured”, China’s state station CCTV He informed, citing his Bandar Abbas consulate.
Iranian President Masoud Peeshkian expressed his sympathy for the victims of the deadly explosion, adding that he had “issued an order to investigate the situation and causes.”
State TV reported: “The president addresses the region to review the last situation regarding the explosion in the port of Shahid Rajae in Bandar Abbas.”
The United Arab Emirates expressed “solidarity with Iran” about Saudi explosion and Arabia sent condolences.
With the propagation of smoke and air pollution drowning throughout the area, all schools and offices in Bandar Abbas, the nearby capital of the province of Hormozgan, has been ordered that it closed on Sunday to allow the authorities to concentrate on the emergency effort, State TV said.
The Ministry of Health urged residents to avoid “even more notice” and to use protective masks.
The authorities declared three days of public mourning throughout the province.
The National Iranian Property Product Distribution Company said in a statement carried out by local media that the explosion “has no connection” with its facilities, without informing that there is no interruption of its work in Bandar Abbas.
The explosion occurred when the Iranian and American delegations met in Oman for high -level conversations about Tehran’s nuclear program, with both parties informing the progress.
Although Iranian authorities so far seem to treat the explosion as an accident, it is also found in the context of the shadow war with the regional enemy Israel.
According The Washington PostIsrael in 2020 launched a cyber attack addressed to the port of Shahid Rajaee.
Putin orders Russian emergency planes to Iran
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered that several planes to Iran be sent to help deal with the sequelae of an explosion in the port of Bandar Abbas of Iran, said the Emergency Ministry of Russia.
Putin has expressed his condolences for the loss of lives and offered to provide help Iran dealing with the consequences of an explosion, said the Kremlin. He said that Putin had transmitted “words of sincere sympathy and support to the families of the victims, as well as their desires for recovery to all injured.”
The emergency ministry said that an amphibious aircraft of Beriev Be-200 that specializes in shootings, as well as in an IL-76 Ilushin Ilushin Il-76 military aircraft, would be sent to Iran to help.
Additional information taken from Reuters.
