A massive explosion followed by a fire at a major Iranian port — a crucial hub for oil and petrochemical exports near the Strait of Hormuz — has left 25 people dead and injured around 800 others, Mehr News Agency reported on Sunday, citing a local official.
The blast occurred at approximately 11:55am on Saturday at the Shahid Rajaee port facility in the city of Bandar Abbas.
Early Sunday morning, the director general of Hormozgan Province’s crisis management reported that 18 people had been confirmed dead, with the number of injured exceeding 800. He noted that about two-thirds of those hospitalized have already been discharged from medical centers, while the rest continue to receive treatment.
Firefighters were still battling the blaze late into the night. Authorities secured the area and adjacent customs facilities to conduct a probe, suspecting poor chemical storage as a possible cause.
“The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers,” Hossein Zafari, a spokesperson for the country’s crisis management organization, told Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA). “Previously, the director general of crisis management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger.”
However, the exact cause had not yet been officially determined, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told media outlets.
Hellbound and Down 