| Day 1 can be seen here, Day 2 can be seen here. |
[Regnum] The death toll from the explosion in the Iranian port of Shahid Rajaee, located near the city of Bandar Abbas, has increased to 40. This was reported on April 27 by the governor of the Iranian province of Hormozgan, Mohammad Ashouri Taziani.
Previously, 36 deaths were reported.
“The number of people who have died from injuries sustained in the explosion has now reached 40,” Mehr news agency quotes Taziani as saying.
On the afternoon of April 27, members of the Iranian parliament reported that many of the dead had not yet been identified. Media sources also suggested that there were other bodies of the dead under the rubble.
As reported by Regnum news agency, the explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port occurred on April 26. According to eyewitnesses, the sound was so loud that it was heard within a radius of 20 km from the scene. Local media reported that the explosion occurred at a warehouse for hazardous goods, but the head of the terminal, Pazhman Behzadpur, denied this information. An investigation has been launched into the explosion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent condolences to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the country's President Masoud Pezeshkian. The head of state expressed his readiness to provide the necessary assistance in eliminating the consequences of the disaster. Later, on Putin's orders, two amphibious aircraft Be-200ChS and Il-76 of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were sent to Iran.
There were 1,205 reported casualties from the explosion. Most of them have already been discharged from hospitals. As of 16:00 Moscow time on April 27, 190 people remain in hospitals, including 20 in intensive care units.
The Russian Embassy in Tehran reported that no information about injured Russian citizens had been received. Russian foreign missions in Iran are operating as usual.
More from regnum.ru
Iran's MoD confirms there were no military goods in Shahid Rajaee port
| Not a lie that it was said, but the claim is definitely taqqiya. Do go on… |
“During the investigation, it was found that there were no imported or exported military cargoes in the area of the fire,” Iranian state television channel IRIB quotes him as saying.
A powerful explosion rocked the Iranian port of Shahid Rajaee on April 26. According to eyewitnesses, the sound of the explosion was so loud that it was heard within a radius of 20 km from the scene. One of the buildings collapsed, and port operations were suspended.
According to the latest data, 1,139 people were injured in the explosion. The total number of deaths at the moment is 25 people. As the head of the judicial power of Hormozgan province Mojtaba Ghahremani noted, 21 bodies have already been handed over to the forensic medical examination. The bodies of ten victims have been identified, including two women and eight men.
Several media outlets reported that the explosion occurred at a hazardous cargo warehouse. Terminal head Pazhman Behzadpour later denied this information, stating that the explosion was not related to hazardous cargo. An investigation has been launched into the incident. The Russian embassy in Tehran reported that no information about Russian citizens being injured has been received.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent condolences to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and the President of the IRI Masoud Pezeshkian in connection with the explosion at the Shahid Rajaee port. In his telegram, the Russian leader also expressed his readiness to provide the necessary assistance in eliminating the consequences of the disaster.
| Courtesy of Fred, Hodhod Yemen News adds: |
| The Times of Israel adds: |
An individual tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly confirmed the earth-shattering kaboom occurred in a shipment from China of a chemical used to produce missile fuel.
Fires continued to break out in different areas of Shahid Rajaei port as of Sunday night, according to state media, with helicopters and firefighters continuing efforts to extinguish them.
Iran’s health ministry urged residents of Hormozgan province, where the port is located, to avoid going outside "until further notice" and to use protective masks.
Authorities declared three days of public mourning across the province, and state TV reported all schools in offices in the bucolic provincial capital of Bandar Abbas, near the port, were ordered closed to allow authorities to focus on the emergency effort.
The port’s customs office said in a statement carried by state television
that the earth-shattering kaboom probably resulted from a fire that broke out at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot. A regional emergency official said several containers had went
kaboom!.
The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
quoted an individual with ties to Iran’s IRGC, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
to discuss security matters, who said that sodium perchlorate had went
kaboom!. The compound is a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles.
The port had taken in a shipment of the chemical in March, the private security firm Ambrey said a day earlier. The fuel was part of a shipment from China by two vessels to Iran, first reported in January by the Financial Times.
BLAST HEARD 50 KILOMETERS AWAY, FIRE ’STILL NOT OUT’
Live footage from the port on Sunday showed thick smoke still visible at the scene of the earth-shattering kaboom.
"The fire is under control but still not out," a state TV correspondent reported from the site around 20 hours after the blast.
The explosion was so powerful that it was felt and heard about 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, Fars news agency reported.
Speaking Sunday at the scene, Iran’s Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said that "the situation has stabilized in the main areas" of the port. He told state TV that workers had resumed loading containers and customs clearance.
Images from news agency IRNA on Saturday showed rescuers and survivors walking along a wide boulevard carpeted with debris after the blast at Shahid Rajaee, more than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) south of Tehran.
Flames could be seen engulfing 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.
"The shockwave was so strong that most of the port buildings were severely damaged," Tasnim news agency reported.
Saturday is the start of the working week in Iran, meaning the port was busy with employees.
Three Chinese nationals were "lightly injured," China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate.
Iranian MP accuses Israel of involvement in port blast, as fires continue to smolder
[IsraelTimes] Though authorities are still working to determine the cause of the blast, an Iranian parliament member claimed that Israel was responsible, saying that explosive devices were planted in the shipping containers that caused it.
“Israel was involved in the explosion,” MP Mohammad Siraj told the Rokna news agency on Sunday. “It was not accidental. Clear evidence points to Israeli involvement.”
“There were explosives planted in the container, either in their country of origin or along the transportation route,” Siraj claimed. “We do not rule out the involvement of internal factors in planting the explosives in the containers. The explosion occurred at four different locations.”
Siraj did nor provide evidence to back up his claim, and an Israeli official was quoted by Hebrew media Saturday as saying Israel had no part in the blast at the port.
Iran’s Defense Ministry denied the reports that the blast may have been caused by the mishandling of solid fuel used for missiles, with a spokesman telling state TV that the reports were “aligned with enemy psyops,” and that the blast-hit area did not contain any military cargo.
In a first reaction on Sunday, spokesman Gen. Reza Talaeinik denied that missile fuel had been imported through the port.
“No sort of imported and exporting consignment for fuel or military application was (or) is in the site of the port,” he told state television by telephone.
He called foreign reports on the missile fuel baseless — but offered no explanation for what material detonated with such incredible force at the site. Talaeinik promised authorities would offer more information later.
Social media footage of the explosion on Saturday at Shahid Rajaei saw reddish-hued smoke rising from the fire just before the detonation. That suggested a chemical compound being involved in the blast, as in the Beirut explosion.
