Blast at Iran oil refinery during Ahmadinejad visit

TEHRAN, May 24 (AFP): An accidental blast at Iran's Abadan's oil refinery killed one person and wounded 25 during a visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was not affected and went on to make a televised speech, a local official said on Tuesday. "The fire in a petrol making unit in Abadan refinery was unintentional," Hamid Qenati, the governor of the city of Abadan was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency. "Unfortunately 25 people were either superficially burnt or intoxicated through breathing the gas emitted from the fire. Also unfortunately one person was killed due to severe burns," he added. According to IRNA's report, the fire occurred in the unit which was inaugurated on Tuesday. "A technical fault led to an explosion in one of the units of this refinery," Fars news agency had said earlier, referring to the oil facility in the southwestern city of Abadan. "The fire was immediately controlled ... The blast did not interrupt the president's programme," Fars added, saying heavy smoke had clouded the refinery and billowed across the city. An Iranian lawmaker was quoted as saying by Fars that the unit inaugurated on Tuesday had also caught fire when it was tested 10 days ago. "Precisely 10 days ago during the preliminary testing of the petrol making unit in Abadan refinery, it caught fire, and I told the oil officials about the probability of re-occurrence of fire, but the officials insisted on continuing with the inauguration," said Ali Mousavi, who represents the city of Abadan and also is a spokesman of the economy commission of parliament. "Currently the control of the fire and the rescue operation has been completed and the investigation of the blast has commenced," Mehr news agency said. "The leak of gas in one of the refinery's units has been announced and is the main cause of the blast and the fire," it added. "The spread of poisonous gas has resulted in gas inhalation and intoxication of some of the employees." Ahmadinejad was at the refinery to inaugurate a unit that will elevate the nation's petrol production capacity by an extra 4.2 million litres a day.