Summoning Several Provincial Officials to the Prosecutor's Office in Hormozgan, Ambiguity in Reports of Student Bus Accident

In a meeting of the Education and Research Commission of the Parliament, it was announced that two issues, 'parental consent' and 'departure time,' are two ambiguities in the initial report of the bus accident involving Hormozgan students, and only the driver was reported to have fastened his seatbelt in the affected bus. The official news agency of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (House of the People) reported on Tuesday (September 4) that these issues were raised during a meeting to investigate the cause and dimensions of the accident, attended by the Minister of Education and other officials. Mohammad Bat'hai, the Minister of Education, pointed out that the initial reports indicated that the regulations for conducting the camp were followed, but he mentioned two 'ambiguities' in these reports. Regarding the first ambiguity, he said, 'It must be clarified whether the students participated in the camp with parental consent or not.' About the second ambiguity, he stated, 'The route from Bandar Abbas to Shiraz has hot weather, buses do not travel during the day, and the journey is postponed to night, but why the departure time was chosen at eleven o'clock at night is ambiguous.' The Minister of Education added that expert teams are investigating to resolve these ambiguities. According to the report, Mehdi Faiz, the Deputy for Cultural and Educational Affairs of the Ministry of Education, also mentioned in this meeting that 'it must be acknowledged that the accompanying instructor had warned the driver several times about drowsiness.' Mohammad Hossein Hamidi, the head of the Road Police, identified the main cause of the accident as 'the driver's lack of attention due to fatigue and drowsiness.' He also stated in an interview that the only person who fastened their seatbelt in this bus was the driver, which was due to monitoring drivers through the Sepahdan system. According to Hamidi, injured students from the accident reported, 'When passing a police station, the driver would tell them to unbuckle their seatbelts and that he would inform them when to buckle up before the next police station.' Hossein Hashemi Takhti-Nejad, the representative of Bandar Abbas in the Parliament, also mentioned in this meeting that some students 'did not have consent forms' from their parents and that 'negligence occurred in selecting the departure time for the student bus.' Mohammad Mahdi Zahedi, the head of the Education and Research Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also stated that according to received information, the driver's main occupation was 'blacksmithing,' so it must be clarified why this individual received a smart card. He added that the accompanying instructor should have reported the driver's drowsiness to the police according to the camp regulations. In the early hours of September 1, the overturning of the bus carrying 45 passengers, including Hormozgani female students heading to participate in the National Farzanegan Camp in Shiraz, resulted in 9 deaths and many injuries. A directive was issued to the prosecutor to investigate the matter, along with rumors of payments to the families of the victims. Another report indicates that the head of the Iranian judiciary has instructed the Attorney General to address road accidents in Iran, and the representative of Bandar Abbas has called for 'serious action' against those proposing to pay money to the families of the victimized students if the matter is true. The IRIB news agency reported on Tuesday (September 3) that Sadegh Larijani stated in a meeting of senior judicial officials that the prosecutor's involvement in this matter is necessary because road accidents in Iran, which annually result in many casualties, relate to 'public rights.' Larijani requested that the Attorney General, along with relevant ministers, address this issue so that, in addition to potential judicial proceedings, preventive measures and identification of vulnerable points to reduce road casualties can be established. He also reacted to the bus accident involving Hormozgani students by stating that 'ignoring the issue is not a solution... {alongside the President's directive and government actions} if any negligence is confirmed, the judiciary will certainly take appropriate legal action.' In this context, the ISNA news agency quoted the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Hormozgan Province as saying that in relation to the bus accident, the Director General of Education, the Deputy Director General of Education, the Student Affairs Officer, the intercity passenger union officer, and the Director General of Road Maintenance of Hormozgan Province have been summoned to the prosecutor's office. Saeed Asadi stated that these officials were summoned for 'necessary explanations, and investigations to uncover other dimensions of the case are ongoing.' The official news agency of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (House of the People) also quoted Ahmad Moradi, the representative of Bandar Abbas, stating that rumors have circulated about the payment of '8 million cash by the Hormozgan Education officials in exchange for signing consent forms from one of the students' parents. Moradi added, 'If this issue is true, there must be serious action against those who proposed it.' According to him, 'In the camp where these students were present, all students from various provinces were instructed to quickly perform their evening prayers and leave the camp at night.' This representative identified 'drowsiness and fatigue' as the cause of the incident and added that the Ministers of Roads and Urban Development and Education must appear in Parliament to 'answer public opinion and should not settle for a simple apology and reform of the guidelines.' Iran is one of the countries with the highest traffic accident fatalities, and this statistic accelerates, especially during the Nowruz holidays.