Firefighting effort following deadly Iranian port blast could last 20 days, local official claims

An official of Iran's Ministry of Interior has stated that the firefighting effort being undertaken following a deadly explosion at a port in Bandar Abbas late last week could last 20 days as some areas within the port are still ablaze.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry's Crisis Management Organisation (CMO) told state media that a number of fires at the Port of Shahid Rajaee were still raging three days after an explosion occurred at an on-site oil storage tank on Saturday, April 26.

The incident has left at least 70 people dead and over 1,200 others injured, though more than a thousand of the injured individuals have since been discharged from hospital.

The recent CMO statement refutes earlier reports that all known fires at the port have been fully extinguished by Monday, April 28.

Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni had told reporters that Saturday's explosion was caused by negligence and failure to comply with safety regulations, adding that those responsible have been identified and ordered to submit themselves for questioning.

The Iranian Government has denied that the storage tank that was the source of the explosion contained ammonium perchlorate at the time of the incident.

Ammonium perchlorate is a chemical compound known to be used in the manufacture of rocket fuel.