AFPIran’s inside minister has stated negligence was an element within the large explosion and hearth on the nation’s largest container port, because the demise toll rose to a minimum of 70.
Eskandar Momeni stated Saturday’s blast at Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, which additionally injured greater than 1,000 individuals, was brought on by “shortcomings, together with noncompliance with security precautions and negligence”.
“Some people deemed accountable” had been summoned for questioning, he added.
Customs authorities have stated imported cargo caught hearth and exploded. The defence ministry has denied overseas stories that it was a cargo of a missile gasoline chemical.
The disaster administration director for Hormozgan province, Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, additionally stated on Monday that the firefighting effort on the port was “nearly in its last phases”.
Hormozgan Governor Mohammad Ashouri Taziani in the meantime stated clearing-up operations on the port may proceed for a number of extra days, and that it may take one to 2 weeks earlier than the state of affairs there returned to regular.
He estimated that 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) – nearly two-thirds of the positioning – had been severely affected by the explosion.
The Customs Administration stated the cargo which caught hearth and exploded had neither been registered nor formally declared earlier than the incident, in accordance with the Isna information company.
On Sunday, the CEO of the agency that was working the affected space, Sina Marine and Port Companies Growth Firm, blamed “a repeated and catastrophic error involving false declarations of hazardous items”.
Iran’s defence ministry denied stories that the explosion was brought on by the improper dealing with of a cargo of sodium perchlorate, a stable gasoline used for ballistic missiles.
Spokesman Brig Gen Reza Talai-Nik stated on Sunday that there “had been and are not any import or export of gasoline shipments or cargo for navy use within the neighborhood of the incident”, and accused overseas media of spreading “pretend information”.
Ambrey Intelligence, a personal maritime threat consultancy, instructed the Related Press that the port obtained a cargo of sodium perchlorate final month, and that the blast was “reportedly the results of improper dealing with”.
The New York Occasions additionally cited an unnamed individual with ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as saying that sodium perchlorate exploded.
