4 die in Iran, over 500 injured in huge port explosion and fire

A massive explosion and fire at a port in southern Iran has killed four people, authorities said on Saturday.

Babak Mahmoudi, the head of the country’s rescue organisation, made the announcement on state television.

At least 516 others have been injured in the blast at the Shahid Rajaei port just outside Bandar Abbas, a major facility for container shipments for the Islamic Republic 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 epicentre of the explosion. State media footage showed the injured crowding into at least one hospital, with ambulances arriving as doctors rushed one person by on a stretcher.

Authorities offered no cause for the explosion hours later, although videos suggested whatever ignited at the port was highly combustible.

Industrial accidents happen in Iran, particularly at its ageing 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.