A massive explosion and fire rocked a port Saturday in southern Iran, injuring at least 516 people, state television reported. The blast happened at the Shahid Rajaei port just outside of Bandar Abbas, a major facility for container shipments for the Islamic Republic of Iran that handles some 80 million tons of goods a year. Social media videos showed black billowing smoke after the blast. Others showed glass blown out of buildings miles away from the epicenter of the explosion, per the AP. Authorities offered no cause for the explosion hours later, though videos suggested whatever ignited at the port was highly combustible.
Industrial accidents happen in Iran, particularly at its aging oil facilities that struggle for access to parts under international sanctions. But Iranian state TV specifically ruled out any energy infrastructure as causing or being damaged in the blast. Mehrdad Hasanzadeh, a provincial disaster management official, told Iranian state TV that first responders were trying to reach the area, while others were attempting to evacuate the site.
Hasanzadeh said the blast came from containers at the city's Rajaei port, without elaborating. State TV also reported there'd been a building collapse caused by the explosion, though there were no immediate details offered. The port is some 650 miles southeast of Iran's capital, Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all traded oil passes.
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