The death toll from a powerful explosion at Iran’s biggest port of Bandar Abbas has risen to at least 40 dead, with more than 1,000 people injured, state media reported on Sunday, as firefighters worked to fully extinguish the fire.
Russian president Vladimir Putin dispatched planes carrying specialist firefighters to the area, and the Kremlin website said Mr Putin had conveyed his “words of sincere sympathy and support to the families of the victims as well as his wishes for a recovery to all those injured”.
Saturday’s blast, which officials say was probably caused by chemical materials, took place in the Shahid Rajaee section of the port – Iran’s biggest container hub.
The force of the explosion shattered windows for several kilometres around Bandar Abbas, which is located near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, tearing metal shreds off shipping containers and badly damaging goods stored inside, state media reports said.
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Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, flew to Bandar Abbas, a city 20 miles to the west of the port in Hormozgan province, to be briefed on the investigation and rescue operation.
With choking smoke and air pollution spreading across the area, schools and offices in Bandar Abbas were ordered closed on Sunday, state TV reported. The health ministry urged residents to avoid going outside until further notice and to use protective masks.
Visiting the scene, interior minister Eskandar Momeni told state TV 80 per cent of the fire had been extinguished by Sunday morning and firefighting efforts would continue for a few more hours.
Some operations resumed in parts of Shahid Rajaee that were not affected by the fire or damage.
While chemical materials are thought to have been involved, the exact cause of the explosion is yet to be clarified and Mr Pezeshkian has ordered an investigation.
A spokesperson for the country’s crisis management organisation appeared on Saturday to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at Shahid Rajaee, adding that earlier warnings had highlighted potential safety risks.
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani cautioned against “premature speculation”, saying it was still too early to say.
The incident occurred as Iran began a third round of nuclear talks with the United States in Oman, but there was no indication of a link between the two events.
A series of deadly incidents has hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years, with many blamed on negligence.
They have included refinery fires, a gas explosion at a coal mine, and an emergency repair incident at Bandar Abbas that killed one worker in 2023.
Iran has blamed some other incidents on its arch-foe Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting Iran’s nuclear programme in recent years and last year bombed the country’s air defences. – Reuters/Guardian
