A devastating explosion hit the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, a key southern port city in Iran, on Saturday, injuring a minimum of 281 individuals, Iranian state media reported. The reason behind the explosion is still under investigation.
Local media outlets have reported fears of potential deaths, considering the large number of workers present when the blast occurred. Shahid Rajaee is Iran’s most sophisticated container terminal, more than 1,000 kilometers south of Tehran and near the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world’s oil supplies pass.
Videos posted on social media indicated thick black smoke billowing from the site and extensive destruction, with windows broken in structures kilometers from the port.
Though industrial accidents are not rare in Iran, especially considering the nation’s aging infrastructure under economic sanctions, officials promptly dismissed any link to the nation’s energy complexes. Iran’s National Oil Products Distribution Company asserted that oil refineries and pipelines outside Bandar Abbas were functioning normally.
Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, Hormozgan province’s crisis management chief, said the blast resulted from a number of containers exploding at the port’s wharf section. Rescue teams have been evacuating and treating the wounded at local medical facilities.
First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref has urged an immediate investigation into the accident to determine the full extent of the damage.
The blast’s shockwave was said to have been felt as far as 50 kilometers away, heavily damaging most of the port facilities, local reports said.
The accident comes after another major workplace disaster in Iran last September, when an explosion at a coal mine killed over 50 workers, prompting authorities to announce a time of national mourning.
