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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited the port on Sunday to assess the circumstances of the blast. Read further on Dynamite News
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Tehran: The death toll from a massive explosion at a port in Iran's southern province of Hormozgan on Saturday has reached 40, and the government has announced one day of national mourning, Iran's IRIB news agency reported on Sunday.
The explosion and the subsequent fire left more than 1,000 people wounded, of whom 197 were hospitalised, the IRIB quoted Hormozgan's Governor Mohammad Ashouri Taziani as saying.
The cause of the incident has not been determined yet.
The Iranian government's spokeswoman, Fatemeh Mohajerani, in a post on social media platform X, said the administration had declared Monday a day of national mourning.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited the port on Sunday to assess the circumstances of the blast, and visited some of the injured, according to a statement from his office.
Hossein Sajedinia, head of the National Disaster Management Organisation, told the IRIB that firefighting teams from five provinces were working to contain the fire, predicting that the blaze would be curbed in a few hours.
He said some of the containers at the port contained flammable materials, such as pitch, and some others had chemicals in them.
Despite the incident, the port's wharfs have resumed operations and cargo handling, according to the official news agency IRNA.
A massive explosion took place at Shahid Rajai Port on Saturday in Bandar Abbas city located in the south-western part of Iran.
According to Iran's state media, 4 people have died in this blast so far and 500 people are reported to be injured.
After the massive explosion, all activities of the port have been immediately stopped to extinguish the fire.
According to the report of Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency, large number of people work at this port, therefore so many people expected to be injured and killed in this blast.
A local official said, 'This accident happened due to the explosion in several containers kept near the seashore near Shahid Rajai Port. We are currently evacuating the injured and they are being taken to the hospital.'
Panic situation has been created in the area after this incident.
In 2020, Iran's most advanced container port Shaheed Rajai was the victim of a cyber attack. This cyber attack caused huge chaos in the surrounding areas. At the same time, the Washington Post reported that Israel was allegedly behind this attack, which was done in response to a previous cyber attack by Iran.
The explosion occurred at a time when Iran is holding a third round of nuclear talks with the United States in Oman.
The United States and Iran have begun a third round of nuclear talks, entering what experts describe as a more difficult phase of technical negotiations this weekend as Washington lays out its conditions.
