Death toll from Iran port blast rises to 28, 800 injured (3rd ld)

Tehran, April 27 (IANS) The death toll from a large explosion at a port in Iran's southern Hormozgan province has risen to 28, media reported on Sunday.

The cause of the incident remained undetermined, the report said.

Official IRNA news agency said that the number of individuals injured in the blast and subsequent fire had reached 800, with six people still missing.

Footage from closed-circuit cameras at the scene showed a limited fire starting near several containers in an area of the port at 12:05 p.m. local time, which then expanded and caused the significant explosion nearly 90 seconds later, the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Hormozgan's Governor Mohammad Ashouri Taziani as saying on Sunday.

He also announced three days of public mourning in the province following the deadly blast.

Hossein Zafari, spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Organisation, told the semi-official Fars news agency on Saturday that chemical materials in a container at the port may have triggered the explosion.

However, Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani cautioned on the same day against any "hasty speculations" regarding the cause of the incident before relevant authorities complete their investigations.

She added that what had been confirmed so far was the presence of containers, possibly containing chemical materials, in a corner of the port.

Dismissing foreign media rumours about the presence of military shipments at the port, Iran's Defence Ministry spokesman Reza Talaei-Nik said that based on investigations and available evidence, there were no imported or exported shipments related to fuel or military use in the area where the blast occurred.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday dispatched Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni to the province to ensure necessary coordination and address the condition of the injured.

On Sunday, Pezeshkian instructed the Interior Minister to implement immediate measures to ensure medical care delivery to all injured individuals and control the critical circumstances, according to a statement published on his office's website.

IRNA reported that while the fire had been 80 per cent contained at the port by Sunday morning, it had reignited and spread to other nearby containers, with efforts underway to extinguish it.

The port's wharfs, however, had resumed operations and cargo handling, the report added.

--IANS

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