Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni says that the ‘guilty have been identified’ and that the explosion was caused by ‘negligence’.
Firefighters continue to fight fires in the largest commercial port in Iran, Bandar Abbas, two days after a mass explosion killed diseases and wounded more than 1,000 people, the report of the Iranian state media, as the questions persist in the cause of the explosion.
“The number of deaths in the fire of the port of Rajajai Shahid has reached 46,” the Irna news agency reported Monday, citing Mehrad Hassanzadeh, director of crisis management of the province of Hormozgan, where the port is located. Most of the injury had been released after treatment, Hey added.
Only “120 injured are still in the hospital,” Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni, who visits the affected area, State TV, said on Monday.
The explosion took place on Saturday in the port of Shahid Rajaei in southern Iran, near the strategic host strategic, a river route through which the production of fifteen years or global of oil production passes.
Iran’s state television showed firefighters images soaking the flames, saying that the damage would be evaluated after the fire is completely controlled.
The heavy and black smoke of coal continued to undulating on low flames in part of the site, above which a fire extinction helicopter flew, images of the Iranian red average were shown.
What caused the explosion?
It was not clear immediately what the explosion caused, but the Puerto Customs Office said it probably resulted from a fire that exploded in a deposit of hazardous chemical materials.
Mommeni said Monday that “the culprits have been identified and summoned”, and that the explosion was caused by “deficiencies, including breach with security and negligence precautions.”
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatolá Ali Khamei, ordered an exhaustive investigation into the incident.
Given external and expert speculation, Iran has denied the reports that the explosion was caused by a missile fuel shipment.
National Mourning Day declared
On Sunday, President Masoud Peeshkian visited hospitals that treated the injured in Bandar Abbas. From the explosion, the authorities have ordered that all schools and offices in the area closed and urged residents to avoid “even more warning” and use protective masks in doing so.
The authorities declared a national day of mourning on Monday, while three days of mourning begged Sunday in the province of Hormozgan.
The explosion took place as Iranian and American delegations with Oán for high -level conversations about Tehran’s nuclear program, with both parties informing progress.
While the Iranian authorities so far seem to be trying the explosion as an accident, it also comes in a context of years of shadow war with the regional enemy Israel. Iran has accused Israel in the past to be behind such attacks.
According to the Washington Post, Israel launched a cyber attack directed to the port of Shahid Rajaei in 2020.
