A significant explosion at Bandar Abbas, Iran’s most significant container port, on Monday has left 65 people dead and more than 1,200 injured.
This was made public by state media while firemen fought a fire that, 48 hours after it started, Iranian officials declared was now under control.
The explosion took place at the port’s Shahid Rajaee area, which is Iran’s main container centre.
State media report that efforts to put out the resulting fire have been ongoing, with intermittent fires occurring as a result of wind and combustible materials inside the containers, some of which have emitted harmful fumes into the surrounding area.
Rescue efforts have begun following the containment of the massive fire. There are now 65 people deceased from this catastrophe.
The governor of Hormozgan Province, where Bandar Abbas is located, was quoted by Iran’s state media as saying that “removal of containers could take up to two weeks.”
Eskandar Momeni, Iran’s interior minister, was quoted by the country’s news agency as stating that local authorities had been given control of the firefighting efforts after national operations to combat the Shahid Rajaee fire came to a conclusion.
According to Momeni, “defects in terms of disregarding security procedures have been found, and some of the responsible parties have been called upon.”
In the meantime, officials are not ruling out sabotage, as seen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Sunday request for a probe to determine the incident’s cause.
There was no evidence of a connection between the incident and the start of Iran’s third round of nuclear negotiations with the United States in Oman.
Without giving any other information, Iran’s Infrastructure Communications Company said on Monday that a significant cyberattack against the nation’s infrastructure had been thwarted a day after the explosion.
