Representative picture.Reuters
At least 15 folks had been killed and 4,000 injured in an explosion at a hearth competition in Iran. The incident occurred within the capital Tehran, the place Iranians had been gathering to have fun the final Wednesday eve earlier than Nowruz.
The FARS information company quoted Babak Yektaparast, a spokesman for Iran’s National Medical Emergency Authority, as saying that 72% of these injured this yr had been underneath the age of twenty-two.
Of these injured throughout the celebrations between February 20 and March 12, 565 stay hospitalized, with 38 within the ICU. Four folks stay in vital situation, officers mentioned.
Ektaparast mentioned the fireplace competition was having a severe affect, with deaths rising by 21% and accidents rising by 13% in comparison with the identical interval final yr.
Explosions this yr left 257 folks amputated and 1,594 with eye accidents.
More than 1,200 folks suffered burn accidents on account of the large fireplace, a spokesperson mentioned.
Ahead of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, many Iranians have fun Chaharshanbe Suri, a conventional competition of fireplace that includes setting off fireworks and lighting bonfires.
The Iranian authorities has lengthy promoted the celebration, citing its pre-Islamic origins and the chance it supplies for folks to come back collectively in public to criticize the federal government.
Last yr, to the disgust of Ali Khamenei’s authorities, folks took to the streets chanting anti-government slogans, and unverified movies had been launched from a number of cities. The Washington Post studies that one of many movies reveals ladies burning scarves and other people throwing fireworks at safety forces on bikes in response to Masa Amini’s loss of life in 2022. It was exhibiting.