Many feared dead in blast at Iran gas canister centre

Tehran: An explosion hit a gas distribution company near Tehran and officials fear that at least 15 people may have been killed, Iran's Fars news agency reported on Monday.

The cause of the blast late on Sunday was not immediately clear, but Fars said a large number of gas canisters used in homes for cooking had exploded.

"It is not yet clear if [the blast] was intentional or not," Fars reported, adding that the explosion occurred at a gas company in a suburb of Karaj, west of Tehran.

"The number of probable deaths in the explosion has been put at 15," Fars reported without giving more details.