Death toll from Iran's port blast reaches 65

TEHRAN -- The death toll from a huge blast and the subsequent fire at Shahid Rajaee Port in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan on Saturday has reached 65, with over 1,200 others injured, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported Monday, citing the provincial governor.

The fire has been completely contained, while the rescue and relief operations were still ongoing, Mohammad Ashouri Taziani told Mehr.

Earlier in the day, Iran's Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni identified "certain negligence" as one of the reasons behind the deadly explosion in the provincial capital Bandar Abbas, where this port, the country's largest maritime hub, is located.

He made the remarks in an interview with state-run IRIB TV, elaborating on the ongoing investigations to determine the cause of the incident.

Momeni said that during an earlier meeting held in Bandar Abbas to discuss the explosion's cause, several individuals whose negligence had been confirmed were summoned. He noted that a failure to observe safety regulations and passive defense measures properly contributed to the disaster, urging the relevant authorities and investigative committee to accelerate efforts to determine the full cause accurately.

Following the deadly blast, Hossein Sajedinia, head of Iran's National Disaster Management Organization, told the IRIB on Sunday that some of the containers at the port contained flammable materials, such as pitch, and some others carried chemicals.

Despite the incident, the port's wharfs have resumed operations and cargo handling, according to the official news agency IRNA.