Key points
- The blast occurred on Saturday
- Shahid Rajaee Port was devastated
- One-fifth of global oil output passes through Strait of Hormuz
ISLAMABAD: A huge explosion at Iran’s largest commercial port has killed 65 people, the provincial governor told state media on Monday, revising earlier tolls for the blast.
“The death toll has reached 65 in this horrific incident” at Shahid Rajaee Port, said Mohammad Ashouri, governor of the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan where the port is located, adding that the fire caused by the explosion on Saturday has not yet been fully extinguished.
“Negligence”
Iran’s interior minister on Monday blamed “negligence” for the massive explosion.
The blast occurred on Saturday at the Shahid Rajaee Port in Iran’s south, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes.
“Unfortunately, the death toll has reached 70, and the firefighting effort is almost in its final stages,” Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the crisis management director of Hormozgan province where the port is located, told state TV.
Officials have said more than 1,000 people were injured, with Hassanzadeh noting most had already been released from hospital after treatment.
Operations restored
Iranian authorities say operations at the country’s largest container port have resumed a day after a huge explosion rocked the port, causing a closure in all of its docks and customs facilities.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said in a report on Sunday that operations at the Shahid Rajaee port on the Persian Gulf coast, including loading and unloading of the container ships, had returned to normal since earlier in the day.
Iran’s transport minister Farzaneh Sadegh also confirmed that the port, located near the coastal city of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province, was operating normally.
