Islam Qala, Herat: A fuel tanker exploded Saturday at the Islam Qala crossing in Afghanistan's western Herat province on the Iranian border, injuring at least seven people and causing a massive fire that consumed more than 500 trucks carrying natural gas and fuel.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the blast.
Afghan officials said first responders did not have the means to put out the huge fire and had requested support from Iran in the form of firefighting aircraft.
The intensity of the flames meant ambulances were having trouble reaching the wounded or getting close to the site of the blast.
Two explosions at the border crossing were powerful enough to be spotted from space by NASA satellites.
Read: 5 Afghan police personnel killed in explosion in Afghanistan's Kunar
One blast erupted around 1:10 p.m. Afghan time (0840 GMT), the next around a half hour later at 1:42 p.m. local (0912 GMT).
The fire continued to burn after nightfall and forced Afghanistan to shut down its electrical supply from Iran, leaving Herat in the dark.
The Islam Qala border crossing is around 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the city of Herat, and is a major transit route between Afghanistan and Iran.
The road between the city of Herat and Islam Qala is a dangerous stretch of highway that Afghans rarely travel at night for fear of attacks by criminal gangs.
Afghan security services had set up checkpoints and were assisting ambulances and emergency vehicles traveling to and from the border crossing.
The fire spread to the Dogharoon customs facilities on the Iranian side of the border and first responders - including the fire department, the Iranian army and border forces - were assisting in extinguishing the blaze, according to Iranian state television.
The Afghan side of the border crossing has its own fire department, but officials in Herat said they weren’t in control of the fire even in the first few minutes.
Satellite photos taken Saturday before the explosion showed dozens of tankers parked at the border crossing.
AP
