AREA SEALED OFF
A number of the injured had been transferred for remedy within the capital Tehran – greater than 1,000km north – Koolivand mentioned.
Thick black smoke was seen in dwell footage from the scene aired by state TV on Sunday.
“The hearth is underneath management however nonetheless not out,” a state TV correspondent reported from the scene on Sunday.
The explosion was felt and heard about 50km away, Fars information company reported.
Talking Sunday on the scene, Inside Minister Eskandar Momeni mentioned “the scenario has stabilised in the principle areas” of the port. He advised state TV that staff had resumed loading containers and customs clearance.
Photos from Iran’s Tasnim information company on Sunday confirmed a helicopter flying by a sky blackened by smoke to drop water on the catastrophe scene.
Different Tasnim photographs confirmed firefighters working amongst toppled and blackened cargo containers, and finishing up the physique of a sufferer.
The authorities have closed off the roads resulting in the positioning of the explosion, and photographs from the realm has been restricted to Iranian media retailers.
MOURNING
Three Chinese language nationals had been “calmly injured” within the catastrophe, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who on Sunday was heading to the port blast space in line with state TV, earlier mentioned he had “issued an order to analyze the scenario and the causes”.
The United Arab Emirates expressed “solidarity with Iran” over the explosion and Saudi Arabia despatched condolences, as did Pakistan, India, Turkey and the United Nations, in addition to Russia.
Authorities declared three days of public mourning throughout Hormozgan province.
The explosion got here as Iranian and US delegations met in Oman for high-level talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme, with each side reporting progress.
Whereas Iranian authorities up to now look like treating the blast as an accident, it additionally comes towards the backdrop of years of shadow struggle with regional foe Israel.
In response to the Washington Put up, Israel in 2020 launched a cyberattack concentrating on the Shahid Rajaee Port.
