April 26 (UPI) -- At least 14 people died and at least 750 were injured in an explosion at southwestern Iran's port of Badar Abbas, according to the nation's interior ministry.
Video distributed by the Mehr news agency showed the explosion at an office building at 12:30 p.m. local time. Other footage showed helicopters dropping water at the site of the fire.
The death toll initially was reported at four but it rose Saturday night, according to the Islamic Republic's Interior Ministry. Six people also were missing, Ali-Akbar Javidan, a local police chief, told Iran International.
Iran's Minister of Interior Eskandar Momeni said Saturday night that 212 people received outpatient treatment and the others were taken to medical centers in Hormozgan Province and neighboring provinces.
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The port, which is near the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf, is 795 miles south of Iran's Tehran capital. People 31 miles away reported feeling the blast.
Hours later new explosions were erupting and spreading to other containers.
Debris spread over a wide area, including shattered windows. The fire was contained but port activities were suspended as security and relief forces were on the scene.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence forces took control of the port area.
Also schools in the area will be closed temporarily and people have been asked not to leave their homes because of air pollution, The Washington Post reported.
Mohammad Ashouri Taziani, the region's governor, said injured people were taken to Bandar Abbas medical centers.
Helicopters were dispatched to extinguish the flames, authorities said in a BBC report, as rescue workers searched for people still trapped under collapsed roofs.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said he has ordered an investigation into the cause of the incident, sending the interior minister to the region to inspect the scene, he posted in Farsi on X.
"So far what has been determined is that containers were stored in a corner of the port that likely contained chemicals which exploded. But until the fire is extinguished, it's hard to ascertain the cause," Fatemeh Mohajerani, an Iranian spokesperson, told CNN.
Ambrey Intelligence, a global maritime risk company, told the BBC, the fire occurred because of "improper handling of a shipment of solid fuel intended for use in Iranian ballistic missiles."
The firm said it found 12 merchant vessels within 5 nautical miles of the explosion during the incident, including seven at the port.
Ambrey quoted Iran's National Disaster Management Organization as saying it issued warnings about the safe storage of chemicals.
The National Iranian Oil Company told local media that the explosion had "no connection" to the country's oil refineries, fuel tanks and pipelines.
Shahid Rajaee covers around 5,900 acres, with 5.4 million square feet of warehouse space and 35 shipping births, handling and handles 70 million tons of cargo annually, including oil and general shipping.
