At least 40 killed, 1,000 injured in Iran port explosion
The cause of the blast is not confirmed, but an official blames the poor storage of chemicals at Bandar Abbas
A huge blast probably caused by the explosion of chemical materials killed at least 40 people and injured more than 1,000 on Saturday at Iran’s biggest port, Bandar Abbas, Iranian state media reported.
The explosion, which hit the Shahid Rajaee section of the port, 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.
Hossein Zafari, a spokesman for Iran’s crisis management organisation, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at Shahid Rajaee.
“The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers,” he told Iran’s ILNA news agency.
“Previously, the director general of crisis management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger,” Zafari said.
However, an Iranian government spokesperson said that although chemicals were likely to have caused the blast, it was not yet possible to determine the exact reason.