Fourteen Dead, Over 700 Injured After Explosion Tears Through Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port

Last Updated:April 26, 2025, 23:18 IST

A local crisis management official informed state TV that the incident resulted from the explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area.

Large plume of smoke following explosion near Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area in Iran. (IMAGE: @globalbeaconn/X)

The major explosion at Iran’s Shahid Rajaee port in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Saturday has killed at least five people and injured over 700 others, Iranian state-run news media outlets reported.

The fires triggered by the explosion were still burning more than seven hours after the blast, which Mehr news agency said happened just before noon (0830 GMT) local time.

A state TV reporter said strong winds were making it hard to extinguish the flames.

The customs office at the port said in a statement carried by state TV that the cause of the blast was probably a fire that broke out at the hazmat and chemical materials storage depot.

Saturday is the start of the working week in Iran, meaning the port would have been busy with workers.

Three Chinese nationals were “lightly injured", China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing its Bandar Abbas consulate.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed sympathy for the victims of the deadly blast, adding he had “issued an order to investigate the situation and the causes".

The injured have been transferred to nearby medical centres" in the southern province of Hormozgan where the Shahid Rajaee port is located.

A local official told Iranian state-run news agencies that the blast occurred due to explosion of several containers stored in the Shahid Rajaee Port wharf area. The local crisis management official added that the injured are being evacuated and transferred to medical centres.

Flames engulfed 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.

Citing local emergency services, state TV reported that “hundreds have been transferred to nearby medical centres", while the provincial blood transfusion centre issued a call for donations.

A separate report by Reuters highlighted that the blast occurred as Iran began a third round of nuclear talks with the United States in Oman.

Several videos of the blast have flooded social media. Some of them shared on X showed a mushroom cloud forming after the explosion.

Semi-official Tasnim news agency added that the port’s activities were suspended to extinguish the fire. Given the large number of port employees, “many people were probably injured or even killed in the incident." The shockwave was so powerful that it severely damaged most port buildings, according to people who spoke to the news agency.

Residents reported feeling the ground shake and hearing the blast up to 50 kilometres away, with the sound carrying to nearby towns as well.

The blast shattered windows within a radius of several kilometres, Iranian media said. Footage shared online showed cars with their glasses shattered.

In 2020, computers at the same port were hit by a cyberattack that caused massive backups on waterways and roads leading to the facility. The Washington Post reported that Iran’s arch-foe Israel appeared to be behind that incident as retaliation for an earlier Iranian cyberattack.

Tehran, Iran

News world Five Dead, Over 700 Hurt After Explosion Tears Through Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port