A gas-pipeline explosion has killed at least two people in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan, local media report.
The March 14 blast hit a pipeline between the provincial capital, Ahvaz, and the city of Mahshahr, near the Persian Gulf.
Local official Kiamars Hajizadeh said that the explosion was caused by a gas leakage from the pipeline, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency.
At least four people, including one child and a woman, were killed and five others were wounded, Hajizadeh added.
State television reported that five vehicles in the area had caught fire following the explosion, adding that firefighters and ambulances had been dispatched to the area.
The semiofficial Fars news agency quoted the fire chief in Ahvaz, Ali Torabpour, as saying that a bus, a truck, and a private car had caught fire.
A fire brigade spokesman told ISNA that emergency crew members were able to extinguish the fire, but the exact number of people killed or injured remained unclear.
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Iran has an aging infrastructure, which it has struggled to maintain in working order through years of Western sanctions. Safety measures are also poorly enforced in Iran.
In August 2018, a gas explosion in a sports complex in Tehran killed at least three workers.
By RFE/RL
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