At least 70 trucks looted during Herat border inferno 

Wahid Qatali, the governor of Herat, said on Monday that 70 trucks packed with commercial goods were looted during the devastating fire at Islam Qala land port over the weekend. 

According to the governor, Afghan commando forces found the empty vehicles in areas around the customs facility near the border crossing. 

Addressing a press conference Qatali said that 2,400 vehicles were saved during the massive fire. Of these trucks, 1,500 were driven across the border to Iran for safekeeping. 

According to the governor the fire broke out after a leaking gas tanker exploded. 

Meanwhile, traders in Herat province said that more than 500 vehicles full of commercial goods and fuel were destroyed in the inferno – which resulted in millions of dollars in losses. 

The massive fire burned for over 24 hours after the fuel tanker exploded at midday on Saturday.

Explosions continued for hours and two very large ones, just after 1 pm local time on Saturday, were seen from space, NASA reported.

The fire quickly spread through the facility destroying trucks and Herat officials, who were unable to bring the fire under control, eventually appealed to Iran for help.

Iranian firefighters were eventually able to contain the fire on Sunday afternoon.