A mass explosion crossed the largest commercial port in Iran on Saturday, killing at least 25 people and wounding almost another 800, according to state media.
The explosion occurred in the port of Shahid Rajahei in the south of the city of Bandar Abbas of Iran, the hormuz narrow, through which a fifth of the world’s oil production passes.
The Puerto Customs Office said in a statement taken by state television that the explosion is probably from a fire that exploded in the storage of hazardous and chemical materials.
The images of the official Irna news agency showed rescuers and survivors walking along a large carpet boulevard with rubble after the explosion in Shahid Rajai, more than 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tehran.
The flames wrapped a truck trailer and the blood stained the side of a crushed car, while a helicopter dropped water into huge black smoke clouds that extend behind the stacked shipping containers.
Citing local emergency services, State TV reported that “hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centers”, while the Provincial Blood Transfusion Center issued a donation call.
The explosion occurred several months after one of Iran’s most mortal accidents in years. The explosion of the coal mine in September, caused by a gas leak, killed more than 50 people in Tabas in the east of the country.
Saturday’s explosion occurred in the midst of high-level Iran-US conversations in Oman in Tehran’s nuclear program, with both parties informing the progress.
