section_path: Casualties and emergency response
section_name: Casualties and emergency response
paragraph_text: Casualties and emergency response
  
  According to initial reports, at least 70 people were killed in the explosion while 1,210 others were injured, 138 of them seriously. The casualty figure was later revised by the judiciary to 57 fatalities and more than 1,000 injuries as body parts were counted as a whole body. Maryam Rajavi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran accused Iran of covering up the death toll and was several times higher than officially reported, saying closer to 250 people were killed and an estimated 1,500 others were injured. The Chinese consulate in Bandar Abbas said three Chinese nationals were among the injured. Emergency services, including the Iranian Red Crescent Society, dispatched rapid response teams to the scene. Injured individuals were evacuated and transported to nearby medical facilities and as far as Shiraz. Firefighting efforts were undertaken to control and extinguish the blaze using helicopters to pour water onto the fire from above. Port operations were suspended temporarily to facilitate emergency response activities. Schools and offices in the area were ordered closed on 27 April, while the health ministry advised residents not to go outside "until further notice" and to use protective masks. Russia sent a firefighting aircraft and personnel to help extinguish the fire. By 27 April, only 190 of the injured were still being treated in the hospital. The fires were declared contained on 28 April.
  
  On 27 April, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian visited Bandar Abbas and met with emergency personnel and victims of the disaster. The governor of Hormozgan province, Mohammad Ashouri, declared three days of mourning for the victims, while a national day of mourning was declared on 28 April.