The blaze started last night at 19:30 but fire fighters succeeded to kill it a few hours later. Four people lost their lives in the blaze that broke out due to high pressure in the complex's central boiler.

Non state Kharg petrochemical complex was built in 1959 to produce propane, butane, naphtha and sulfur from the gas produced from offshore wells. Also in 1994 a methanol unit was built in the complex.

Kharg Island, some 750 miles (1200 kilometers) south of Tehran, hosts Iran's biggest oil terminal in the Persian Gulf.