Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
One person was killed and two others were left injured after an explosion in a pipeline used by petrochemical plants in the port of Asaluyeh, located on the southwestern Iranian coast of the Persian Gulf.
Local authorities in the province of Bushehr said that they had launched an investigation into the incident that took place earlier in the day on the oxygen pipeline run by Mobin Petrochemicals.
Mobile camera footage circulating on social media showed bystanders watching a thick black plume of smoke rising into the sky of Assaluyah. People could be heard in the video saying that the explosion was related to Mobin.
Mobin is one of the main providers of utility services to petrochemical plants in Asaluyeh, a port where some of Iran’s largest petroleum installations are based.
The oxygen pipeline that exploded on Wednesday was for the transfer of oxygen from Mobin to two petrochemical plants in the region, according to local officials.
However, Mobin’s PR office said the facility had not been involved in the incident, adding that all units in the plant were operating normally.
Asaluyeh governor Abdolnabbi Yusefi said that the oxygen pipeline explosion had been caused by welding work.
Yusefi said two people injured in the explosion had been transferred to a nearby hospital to receive treatment for burns.
Non-fatal incidents have been reported in the Iranian oil and gas facilities in recent weeks amid a new heatwave affecting the southern provinces of the country.
Temperatures in Asaluyeh surged to 47 degrees Celsius (116 F) on Wednesday as reported by the official IRNA news agency citing data from the local meteorological department in Bushehr.
