Tehran:
The Minister of the Interior of Iran blamed on Monday to “negligence” for a massive explosion in which 70 people were killed in the largest commercial port of the country, where firefighters still fought in the facility two days later.
The explosion took place on Saturday in the Shahid Rajaee-Haven in southern Iran, near the strategic street of Hormuz, a waterway through which a fifth of global oil production passes by.
“Unfortunately, the death toll has reached 70 and the fire control effort is almost in the final phase,” said Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the crisis management director of the province of Hormozgan, where the port is located, on State TV.
Civil servants said that more than 1,000 people were injured, with Hassanzadeh noticed that most of the most of the hospital had already been released after treatment.
On Monday, the Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni told the state of TV that “perpetrators have been identified and called”, and that the explosion was caused by “shortcomings, including non -compliance with security measures and negligence”.
The committee that investigates the causes of the explosion also made similar comments.
Momeni, who has been in the area for hours after the explosion, said that “research is still underway”.
State -tv showed images of firefighters who still extinguish the flames on Monday and said that the damage would be assessed after the fire was fully brought under control.
Heavy charcoal black smoke continued to wave low flames in part of the site, above which a fire -fighting helicopter flew, the photos of the Iranian red half moon showed.
– smoke, then a fireball –
It was not immediately clear what the explosion caused, but the customs office of the port said it was probably the result of a fire that broke out at the storage depot of the dangerous and chemical materials.
CCTV images on social media showed that it gradually started, with a small fire that bowed orange-brown smoke between a few containers stacked outside, opposite a warehouse.
A small forklift truck drives along the area and men can be seen in the neighborhood.
About a minute after the small fire and the smoke have become visible, a fire ball bursts while vehicles pass in the neighborhood, with men who run their lives.
President Masoud Pezeshkian visited hospitals that treat the wounded on Sunday in the nearby city of Bandar Abbas.
Since the explosion, the authorities have closed all schools and offices in the area, and residents have insisted to prevent them from going outside “to further notice” and to use protective masks.
The New York Times quoted a person with ties with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security issues, because he said that some exploded was sodium perchlorate – an important ingredient in solid fuel for rockets.
Spokesperson Reza Talaei-Nik of the Ministry of Defense later told the state of TV that “there has been no imported or exported freight for military fuel or military use in the area”.
Iran Russia's ally has sent specialists to help against the Blazes.
Authorities declared a national mourning day on Monday, while three days of mourning started on Sunday in the province of Hormozgan.
The explosion took place when Iranian and American delegations met in Oman for high -level conversations about the nuclear program of Tehran.
Although so far the Iranian authorities seem to treat the explosion as an accident, it also comes against the background of Shadow War with regional enemy Israel.
According to the Washington Post, Israel launched a cyber attack on the Shahid Rajaee port in 2020.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by Our staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
