Students Poisoned by Gas at Government Ceremony 'I'tikaf' in Mashhad

The Director General of Education in Khorasan Razavi Province announced that "23 students from Mashhad were poisoned due to carbon monoxide inhalation yesterday, Tuesday, at one of the mosques in the city." According to the state news agency IRNA, Mikael Bagheri stated that this incident occurred during the government-sponsored 'I'tikaf' ceremony and that these students were transferred to a hospital in Mashhad by emergency services due to symptoms of gas poisoning, from which they were discharged shortly after. The Director General of Education in Khorasan Razavi noted that this incident happened early yesterday and reported that a total of 27 students from two girls' schools were present at the mosque. The government-sponsored I'tikaf ceremony, which has been promoted and funded by the government for several years, is one of the ideological programs of the regime that has expanded to schools in recent years. In recent days and weeks, as winter temperatures have risen across various parts of Iran, heating appliances in cities and villages have become a cause for concern. The government's inability to ensure the safety of students at a government event is one of the latest examples of the inefficiency of the Islamic Republic's officials. Last week, Sharvin Tabrizi, spokesperson for the Tehran Emergency Center, reported that at least 113 people in Tehran had suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning in the week prior, with two fatalities. This official urged citizens to "observe safety precautions" to avoid gas poisoning when using heating appliances. Tabrizi stated that "it seems that with the increase in air pollution, 32%" of all emergency missions in Tehran, which totaled "28,611 missions," were dedicated to patients with "cardiac and respiratory" issues. A few days earlier, the website Halosh reported the poisoning of seven family members and the death of three children due to inhaling carbon monoxide from a kerosene lamp in Saravan County. According to Halosh, on Thursday morning, December 29, 1403, seven family members in the village of "Siahaniyan" located in the Esfandak region of Saravan County suffered poisoning due to carbon monoxide from a kerosene lamp, resulting in the death of three young children after being transferred to the hospital. Previously, Farzin Rezazadeh, head of the Emergency Center in West Azerbaijan Province, reported that in one night, due to "carbon monoxide inhalation," 57 citizens from Salmas were hospitalized. Earlier, more than 50 people had suffered from gas poisoning in a hall and restaurant in Miyandoab and Naqdeh. Every year, hundreds of people in Iran die from gas poisoning, with official forensic statistics recording 164 deaths in the spring of 1403. According to these statistics, 794 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning in 1402 and 913 in 1401.