A massive fire that broke out at an oil refinery near Iran’s capital and sent a huge plume of black smoke into the sky over Tehran has been extinguished after more than 20 hours, a news agency reports.
The semi-official ISNA agency quotes the country’s deputy oil minister, Alireza Sadeghabadi as saying the blaze was first fully contained and then finally put out.
“The courageous actions by firefighters … led to the complete extinguishing of the fire and prevented the flames from spreading to other nearby tanks,” says Sadeghabadi, thanking the fire department.
The fire erupted at the state-owned Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co. to the south of Tehran last night. The Oil Ministry’s SHANA news agency says it was caused by a leak in two waste tanks at the facility. Authorities initially suggested the flames affected a liquified petroleum gas pipeline at the refinery.
Jalal Maleki, spokesman for the Tehran Fire Department, tells state TV that 10 fire department stations, including 60 heavy operating vehicles and more than 180 firefighters, took part in the operation to battle the blaze.
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
— Stav Levaton, military reporter
Yes, I'll join
Yes, I'll join
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Thursday, June 3, 2021
