Major blast at Iran port kills five, injures over 700
Smoke rises after a massive explosion that ripped through the Shahid Rajaee Port as officials conduct operations on April 26, 2025. More than 500 people have so far been injured in a massive explosion. PHOTO: ANADOLU
A powerful explosion ripped through a key port in southern Iran on Saturday, killing five people and injuring more than 700, state media said.
Although the cause of the blast was not immediately clear, the port's customs office said in a statement carried by state TV that it probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazmat and chemical materials storage depot.
State media reported a "massive explosion" at Shahid Rajaee, the country's largest commercial port, located in Hormozgan province on the southern coast.
The fires triggered by the explosion were still burning more than seven hours after the blast, which Mehr news agency said happened just before noon (0830 GMT) local time.
A state TV reporter said strong winds were making it hard to extinguish the flames.
Images from the official IRNA news agency showed rescuers and survivors walking along a wide boulevard carpeted with debris after the blast.
Flames engulfed a truck trailer and blood stained the side of a crushed car, while a helicopter dropped water on massive black smoke clouds billowing from behind stacked shipping containers.
Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that "hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres", while the provincial blood transfusion centre issued a call for donations.
State TV later cited an official from Hormozgan saying the toll had reached five killed.
In a video posted to social media, which AFP was not able to verify, a man filming the disaster says "my truck was completely destroyed and my friend died", while a dead body can be seen on the ground.
Saturday is the start of the working week in Iran, meaning the port would have been busy with workers.
Three Chinese nationals were "lightly injured", China's state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly blast, adding he had "issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes".
He said Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni would go to the area to look into the incident.
Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of Tehran, is Iran's most advanced container port, according to IRNA.
It is 23 kilometres west of Bandar Abbas, the Hormozgan provincial capital, and near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil output passes.