A helicopter sprays water at the scene of an explosion that took place a day earlier at the Shahid Rajaee port dock, southwest of Bandar Abbas in the Iranian province of Hormozgan. AFP
"For the moment, 40 people have lost their lives as a result of injuries caused by the explosion," Hormozgan provincial official Mohammad Ashouri told state television after the Saturday blast in Shahid Rajaee Port near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Some of the injured had been transferred to the capital Tehran, more than 1,000 kilometres north, for treatment, Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Koolivand said in a video shared on the government's official website.
With choking smoke and air pollution spreading throughout the area, all schools and offices in Bandar Abbas, the capital of Hormozgan province around 23 kilometres (14 miles) east, were ordered closed on Sunday to allow authorities to focus on the emergency effort, state TV said.
The health ministry urged residents to avoid going outside "until further notice" and to use protective masks
Thick black smoke was visible in live footage from the scene aired by state TV on Sunday.
"The fire is under control but still not out," a state TV correspondent reported from the scene on Sunday.
The explosion was felt and heard about 50 kilometres away, Fars news agency reported.
Speaking Sunday at the scene, Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said "the situation has stabilised in the main areas" of the port. He told state TV that workers had resumed loading containers and customs clearance.
Images from Iran's Tasnim news agency on Sunday showed a helicopter flying through a sky blackened by smoke to drop water on the disaster scene.
Other Tasnim images showed firefighters working among toppled and blackened cargo containers, and carrying out the body of a victim.
The authorities have closed off the roads leading to the site of the explosion, and footage from the area has been limited to Iranian media outlets.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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