Fire in Kharg Petrochem Co. Kills 2

EghtesadOnline: An inferno at Kharg Petrochemical Company, the only one of its kind on the island 25 km off the Persian Gulf coast, killed two workers and injured three on Thursday.

News ID: ۷۵۱۵۴۸

21 November 2020

Fire broke out when carbohydrate was being unloaded from storage tanks. Firefighters doused the fire after two hours. The incident happened on Kharg Island, Iran's biggest crude export terminal.

Petrochemicals are among Iran’s major exports. Authorities have struggled to raise safety norms of the ageing oil pipelines and plants that have been hit by the US sanctions.

Fires and other disasters have claimed the lives of dozens of workers in the oil and petrochemical industry. A spate of fire incidents in 2016 at multiple industrial plants in Bushehr, Kermanshah and Semnan provinces raised suspicions of sabotage and cyberattacks.

Officials have categorically rejected sabotage and the likelihood of coordinated attacks, blaming leaks and technical failures as well as poor health and safety inspections at private refineries and petrochemical plants.