Key Points

In a statement on Monday evening, the Committee to Investigate the Causes of the Fire Incident in Shahid Rajaee Port stated that after conducting several meetings with experts in different fields, it was concluded that the reason for the tragic incident was "the failure to observe safety principles and passive defence standards" as confirmed to the committee members, the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported.

"There have been discrepancies in some cases, and the security and judicial bodies are seriously seeking to identify the wrongdoers," it added.

"Determining the cause of this incident requires a thorough and fully-fledged investigation of its various aspects, which, due to expert requirements, requires technical and laboratory processes; however, without wasting time, its implementation steps are being pursued, and the final results will be revealed to the public as soon as possible," the committee concluded.

Meanwhile, the Interior Minister, Eskandar Momeni blamed "negligence" as the cause of the powerful explosion and the inferno in the provincial capital Bandar Abbas, where the port and the country's largest maritime hub is located.

However, some media reports also suggest that the explosion was caused by missile fuel ingredients imported from China.

In January, after Tehran's supplies ran low following its conflict with Israel, China was to send a ship carrying sodium perchlorate, a common missile fuel component, to Iran.

Following this, the port took in a shipment of "sodium perchlorate rocket fuel," in March, the reports said, adding that the port explosion on Saturday was due to the mishandling of this very fuel.

Reports further suggested that eyewitnesses of the incident and videos doing the rounds showed chemicals in an area of shipping containers caught fire and led to a massive explosion.

Meanwhile, the officials stated on Monday that the death toll from the blast and the subsequent inferno rose to 70, and the fire at the port was extinguished.

- IANS