A huge fire in the early hours of Friday as a result of an explosion at a gas pipeline in northwest Tehran’s Shahran District was brought under control by the Fire Department and Emergency Services after battling the inferno for two hours.
The explosion caused a crater 100-meter wide and 50 meters deep.
Reports said between 2 and 5 workers are missing or trapped under the rubble and rescue teams are continuing their search operations.
The incident occurred at 4:30 am in the vicinity of the subway station which is under construction.
Workers were busy digging at the project site when without warning the drilling equipment hit an 18-inch gas pipeline leading to the huge explosion, news outlets reported.
Eight ambulances were immediately sent to the spot, after people called the emergency hotline 115, but there were no reports of immediate casualties, said Hassan Abbasi, spokesman of the Tehran Emergency Center.
Also, two residential and commercial buildings in the vicinity caught fire but no deaths or injuries were reported. All the buildings were evacuated.
A water pipe that also burst flooded the metro tunnel and water is being extracted after which the exact number of causalities will become clear, said Habil Darvish, managing director of the Tehran Metro Company.
Deputy Mayor Seyed Jafar Tashakkori Hashemi maintained that sparks from the overhead electric cables were responsible for the blast.
