TEHRAN: Firefighters in Iran battled raging fires on Monday at the country’s largest commercial port, two days after a massive explosion killed at least 46 people, state TV reported.
The blast took place on Saturday at Shahid Rajaee Port in Iran’s south near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes.
“The death toll in the Shahid Rajaee Port fire has reached 46,” the official IRNA news agency reported, quoting Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the crisis management director for Hormozgan province.
Officials had said more than 1,000 people were injured but Hassanzadeh said most have now been released after treatment.
Only “138 wounded are still in hospital,” he said.
Iran’s state TV showed images of firefighters dousing the flames, and said the damage will be assessed after the fire is fully brought under control.
Death toll from blast at Iran’s Bandar Abbas port rises to 40
Heavy charcoal-black smoke continued to billow over low flames at part of the site, above which a firefighting helicopter flew, pictures from the Iranian Red Crescent showed.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion but the port’s customs office said it likely resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a probe into the incident to determine if there was “any negligence or intent”.
Smoke, then a fireball
CCTV images on social media showed the incident began gradually, with a small fire and orange-brown smoke before a fireball erupted.
The images appeared to show the small fire starting among a few containers stacked outside across from a warehouse. A small forklift truck drove past the smoking area and men walked nearby.
About one minute and eight seconds after the small fire and smoke were visible, a fireball erupted as vehicles passed nearby. Men ran for their lives.
President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday visited hospitals treating the wounded in the nearby city of Bandar Abbas. Since the explosion, authorities have ordered all schools and offices in the area closed and urged residents to avoid going outside “until further notice” and to use protective masks.
The New York Times quoted a person with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters, as saying that what exploded was sodium perchlorate – a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles.
Defence ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik later told state TV that “there has been no imported or exported cargo for military fuel or military use in the area”.
Russia dispatched specialists to help battle the blazes.
Authorities have declared Monday a national day of mourning, while three days of mourning began Sunday in Hormozgan province, where the port is located.
The blast occurred as Iranian and US delegations met in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, with both sides reporting progress.
While Iranian authorities so far appear to be treating the blast as an accident, it also comes against the backdrop of years of shadow war with regional foe Israel.
According to The Washington Post, Israel launched a cyberattack targeting the Shahid Rajaee Port in 2020.
