At least 14 people have been killed and 750 injured in a huge explosion at the port of Bandar Abbas in southwestern Iran, according to official Iranian media citing the country’s interior ministry.
The explosion sent a huge plume of thick, gray smoke from the Shahid Rajaee part of the port complex, according to videos geolocated by CNN, with the government saying the blast was likely linked to chemicals being stored.
No cause has been given for the explosion. A government spokeswoman, Fatemeh Mohajerani, said it would take some time to establish the cause, “but so far what has been determined is that containers were stored in a corner of the port that likely contained chemicals which exploded.
Very reminiscent of the Beirut port explosion of 2020
That one was so downright cartoonish in scale, I still have trouble believing what I saw.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters
I think the largest in scale and death toll were Oppau and Texas City
Useless fact: Not nearly as bad, but I felt the shockwave from this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_disaster_of_1989
I was with my mother and brother in a city just southwest of Houston at the time. It buffeted our van and we saw the windows of a nearby building wobble. Didn’t find out what it was until days later.
Can we please stop storing corrosive and explosive materials in high-traffic areas with critical infrastructure?
Even the US and Russia has the sense to shove all its depleted uranium and nuclear waste in the middle of nowhere.
Not when the critical infrastructure is the infrastructure for storing and moving those materials.
Also people tend to settle where trade happens and work is available.
