Satellite pics of Iran-Afghan border show over 500 oil tankers were destroyed in fire

High-resolution satellite imagery has revealed the large-scale impact of the massive fire that engulfed hundreds of trucks at Afghanistan's Islam Qala on February 13, which is also the crucial border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran’s Herat province. The Guardian reported citing Afghan officials and Iranian state media that the fuel tanker explosion injured at least 60 people and caused a massive fire that consumed over 500 trucks carrying natural gas and fuel.

Two of the explosions at the border crossing were powerful enough to be spotted from space by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellites. As per the report, the first blast took around 1:10 PM (Afghan time) and the next at least 30 minutes later at 1:42 PM. However, it was not immediately clear what caused the blasts. The high-resolution satellite images were shared on Twitter by Maxar Technologies’ WorldView-3 satellite on February 17 which also indicates that debris continues to smoulder days after the initial explosion.

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Over 500 trucks carrying natural gas burned

While the Islam Qala border crossing is a lifeline for millions in Afghanistan, Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency quoted truck drivers as saying more than 500 trucks carrying natural gas and fuel were engulfed in the fire. The Herat provincial governor, Wahid Qatali said that over 2,000 vehicles at the site of the blaze were protected including 1,500 that were rushed across the border into Iran to keep them away from the blasts. 

Qatali reportedly also said that at the time of the blaze, the crossing point was overcrowded. Even though it has a capacity of up to 700 oil trucks, there were more than 2,500 trucks present. While the Herat provincial governor informed that an investigation has been launched into the cause of the fire and the “estimate losses for the government and the private sector”. The United States allows Afghanistan to import fuel from Iran as part of a special concession that exempts Kabul from American sanctions against Tehran. Reportedly, the satellite images before the explosion showed dozens of tankers parked on the Afghan side at the border crossing. 

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Image credits: The Associated Press