TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iranian police on Wednesday questioned four people as part of investigations into a powerful explosion that killed 19 people at a Tehran clinic the night before, state media reported.
The explosion was reported at 20:56 (1626 GMT) followed by a fire at Sina At’har Clinic in the upmarket northern neighborhood of Tajrish, Tehran’s emergency medical services said in a statement.
Fifteen women were among the 19 people who lost their lives in the tragedy.
“The police are questioning four people and investigating them,” Tehran’s deputy police chief General Hamid Hadavand was quoted as saying by iribnews.ir.
Among them were the director general and three other officials from the clinic, which was badly damaged by the blast and a fire that took two hours to extinguish.
Tehran Fire Department spokesman Jalal Maleki said the explosion occurred as three gas canisters caught fire in the clinic’s basement.
Several emergency response units, including ambulances and firefighters, were seen deployed on site as smoke billowed from the building.
The blast at health center caused damage to buildings in the vicinity and sent a plume of thick black smoke into the night sky, state television reported.
Some of the victims “were in upper floors in operation rooms, who were either patients being operated on or those with them,” Maleki said.
“They unfortunately lost their lives due to the heat and thick smoke.”
Authorities initially said 13 people were dead, but Maleki later said that the toll had risen to 19. Fourteen others have been injured in the explosion.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, in a message of condolences to the families of the victims, called on the authorities concerned to shed light “on the cause of the accident”.
Iran’s Judiciary Chief Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi has also ordered investigations into the deadly incident in the clinic.
- source : Iran Daily, Irannews
