Iranian oil refinery hit by explosion during Ahmadinejad visit

Two people are killed, and 20 injured, by a suspected gas leak during a visit by the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

TWO PEOPLE HAVE been killed in an explosion at an Iranian oil plant during a visit from the country’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The blast at the refinery in Abadan, in the country’s south-west, has been attributed to a gas leak by the Iranian news agency Mehr.

Firefighters on the scene immediately brought the blaze under control, Mehr said, adding that Ahmadinejad and the government party had not been hurt.

Some employees were said to have inhaled some toxic substances, however, and were transferred to a local hospital.

The refinery has the capacity to produce 4.2 million litres of petrol a day.

The BBC reports that the blast is not the only minor scare faced by Ahmadinejad in recent months – in August, authorities were forced to deny reports that an explosive device had been thrown at the president’s convoy.

Ahmadinejad is currently in the midst of a power struggle with the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini, who last month restored the country’s defence minister to the cabinet after Ahmadinejad sacked him.