Lethal blast at Iran refinery as Ahmadinejad visits

A lethal explosion at an Iranian oil refinery during a visit by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on left the president unhurt but delivered an embarrassing blow to his drive to increase gasoline output and foil international sanctions.

Ahmadinejad appeared on state television shortly after the blast, which officials blamed on technical problems, lauding the inauguration of Iran's latest refinery upgrade.

But two lawmakers said the plant was unsafe and should not have been rushed into production.Thick smoke was seen rising from the refinery in Abadan, south-western Iran, close to the Iraqi border, but firefighters quickly had the blaze under control, Iranian news agencies said.Two people were killed and 12 injured.

A plane was sent to evacuate the injured – suffering burns and smoke and gas inhalation – to a Tehran hospital.

The semi-official Mehr news agency, which put the death toll at two, said a gas leak had caused the blast, giving no source for its information. Iranian media did not speculate on the possibility of sabotage or an attack on the president.

"Unfortunately, we had an accident which led to a death but the rest of the injured were not severely hurt," Abdolreza Mehra, managing-director of the Abadan Oil Refinery Company, told state television.

"During the launch of this newly built complex, with the presence of the president, everything went well, but we faced a minor accident," he said.

The member of parliament for Abadan said a similar fire had broken out at the plant two weeks ago and his pleas to delay the inauguration until the problem was fixed had been ignored.

"Despite our repeated warnings, the managers of the refinery were not willing to cancel the ceremony and they insisted on holding the event," Ali Mousavi Jaraf told the Mehr agency.