Disasters & Accidents

Fire breaks out at Iranian oil refinery

Tehran, Jun 2 (EFE).- A thick cloud of smoke could be seen from the center of Tehran on Wednesday after a fire erupted at an oil refinery on the south side of the Iranian capital.

Though no casualties were reported, emergency department spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi told the ISNA news agency that 10 ambulances had been dispatched to the state-owned Shahid Tondgooyan refinery in the Shahr-e Rey district.

Nearby hospitals were also placed on alert, he said.

Mansour Darajati, the municipal crisis management chief, said that according to firefighters on the scene, the blaze originated in a pipeline carrying liquefied petroleum gas.

Other sources said the fire began in a tank containing diesel fuel.

The fire started at 7:18 pm and six fire companies were deployed to douse the flames alongside the refinery’s firefighters and personnel from other agencies, Tehran fire department spokesman Jalal Maleki said.

The causes of the blaze are under investigation, according to a statement from Shahid Tondgooyan management, which said there were no signs of sabotage.

The summer of 2020 witnessed a spate of suspicious fires at important installations in Iran, including some belonging to the energy sector, that the government attributed to Israeli sabotage.

Earlier Wednesday, the Iranian navy said that one of its largest ships, the IRIS Kharg, sank 20 hours after catching on fire during a training mission in the Gulf of Oman.

Behzad Jahanian, a naval spokesman, said that the roughly 400 crew and trainees aboard the four-decade-old, 30,000-ton logistics vessel were evacuated safely.

Twenty people were hospitalized with injuries, Jahanian said.

EFE mv-ar/dr

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