HERAT, Afghanistan (AP) – A fuel tank exploded Saturday at the intersection of Islam Qala in western Afghanistan’s Herat province, bordering Iran, injuring at least seven people and causing a huge fire that consumed more than 500 trucks transporting natural gas and fuel, according to Afghan authorities and Iranian state media.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion. Wahid Qatali, governor of Herat province, said Afghan first aid did not have the means to put out the big fire and called for Iran’s support in the form of fire-fighting aircraft.
“For now, we can’t even talk about the victims,” Qatali told the Associated Press.
The intensity of the flames meant that ambulances were having trouble reaching the injured or getting close to the blast site, said Mohammad Rafiq Shirzy, a spokesman for the regional hospital in the capital of Herat, also called Herat.
Seven people injured by the fire have been admitted to the hospital so far, he said.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency quoted truck drivers as saying that more than 500 trucks carrying natural gas and fuel burned.
Two explosions at the border crossing were powerful enough to be detected from space by NASA satellites. An explosion occurred around 1:10 pm, Afghanistan time (8:40 am GMT), the next about half an hour later at 1:42 pm local time (9:12 am GMT).
The fire continued to burn after dark and forced Afghanistan to interrupt Iran’s electricity supply, leaving Herat in the dark, said Wahidullah Tawhidi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Energy Supply.
The road between the city of Herat and Islam Qala is a dangerous stretch of road that Afghans rarely travel at night for fear of attacks by criminal gangs. Taliban insurgents also travel freely in the area. Afghan security services set up checkpoints and assist ambulances and emergency vehicles traveling to and from the border.
The Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that, following the request of the governor of Herat, “Iranian rescue forces and firefighters are underway to extinguish the fire within Afghanistan,” according to Mohsen Nejat, director general of crisis management in the Iranian province Khorasan Razavi.
The fire spread to Dogharoon customs facilities on the Iranian side of the border and first aid – including the fire department, the Iranian army and border forces – were helping to put out the fire, according to Iranian state television. The Afghan side of the border crossing has its own fire department, but officials in Herat said they were not in control of the fire for the first few minutes.
The Islam Qala border crossing is about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the city of Herat and is an important transit route between Afghanistan and Iran.
The United States allows Afghanistan to import fuel and oil from Iran as part of a special concession that exempts Kabul from American sanctions against Iran. Satellite photos taken on the Saturday before the explosion showed dozens of tankers parked at the border crossing.
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Vahdat contributed from Tehran, Iran.