The firefighters attempted Monday to overcome a huge fire which ravages the largest port in Iran for the third consecutive day, after the explosion on Saturday which left at least 70 people dead and more than a thousand injured, according to a record published Monday evening.
Thick black smoke continues to rise above the containers stacked at Port Shahid Rajaï, according to images of state television broadcast on Monday morning live. After controlling fire, “we will enter the site cleaning phase and damage evaluation,” Iranian television said.
Cause of the indefinite explosion
The explosion, heard tens of kilometers around, occurred on Saturday around noon local hour on a quay of the Shahid Rajai port, where 85 % of the goods in Iran pass. This strategic port is close to the big coastal city of Bandar Abbas (South), on the Strait of Ormuz, where a fifth of world oil production passes, a thousand kilometers south of Tehran.
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The cause of the explosion was not immediately determined, but the Port customs said it was likely to come from a fire that stated in the storage of dangerous and chemical materials.
The Minister of the Interior points out “neglect”
The Iranian supreme guide, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the opening of an investigation into the incident to determine whether the drama was caused by “negligence” or if it were “intentional”. President Massoud Pezeshkian went to hospitals in the neighboring town of Bandar Abbas on Sunday to visit the wounded.
The Ministry of Health called the 650,000 inhabitants of the city to stay at home “until further notice”. A call for blood donations was launched for the injured. Only “120 injured are still hospitalized,” said Eskandar Momeni, visiting in the region on Monday on state television. “Some culprits have been identified and summoned (…). There have been breaches, including non-compliance with security measures and negligence, “he added.
