May 17, 2019
A huge blaze has roared through the thousand-year-old Tabriz Bazaar, destroying or damaging more than 150 shops. Some 19 injuries, but no deaths, were reported.
The cause of the fire has not yet been reported. It broke out about 9 p.m. May 8 and it took firefighters six hours to extinguish the flames.
The bazaar, the largest covered bazaar in the world, has suffered numerous fires over the years, but nothing on the scale of the latest one.
The bazaar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is mentioned in the book by Marco Polo about his travels along the Silk Road to China in the 13th Century. The bazaar currently has about 5,500 shops.
The news reports did not say what section or sections of the bazaar were damaged.
Meanwhile, another fire two days earlier engulfed two pipelines in Khuzestan province. News reports said a bulldozer rammed a crude oil pipeline as crews were doing maintenance work. That started a fire, which resulted in an explosion 45 minutes later, which ruptured a nearby gas condensate pipeline and set off yet another explosion.
The adjoining village of Salehabad was evacuated. Reports said no villagers were injured, but several houses were destroyed by the fire. Five workmen were injured.
It took almost a day to extinguish that blaze.
The oil pipeline was described as moving crude to Kharg Island for export, but given the huge drop in Iran’s current exports, the brief interruption over the few days it took to repair the pipelines is not likely to make any difference.