Six Dead and Dozens Injured in Work Accidents in Karaj and Pakdasht

On Monday, July 11, six workers were killed and dozens injured in several work accidents in Karaj and Pakdasht.

According to IRNA news agency, the CEO of Pakdasht Fire Department announced that five workers at a cardboard manufacturing workshop in Mahallati village lost their lives due to “gas leakage from the cardboard fermentation tank.”

Qasem Khaje Hosseini stated that the cause of this accident is still under investigation.

Meanwhile, according to IRIB news agency, the workshop owner, along with his son and nephew, an Iranian worker, and an Afghan worker were among the fatalities.

Pakdasht is located 20 kilometers southeast of Tehran.

On Monday, a fire at “Kamal Paint” factory on the special Karaj-Tehran road also resulted in one death and at least 39 injuries.

According to IRIB news agency, Mojtaba Khaldi, spokesman for the National Emergency Medical Services, said that 35 of the injured received outpatient treatment and four were transferred to hospitals.

Jalal Maleki, spokesman for Tehran Fire Department, also stated that the fire covered an area of 2,000 square meters and was extinguished at 5 p.m. According to Mr. Maleki, 12 vehicles inside the factory were burned in this incident.

The cause of this fire has not yet been announced.

Monday morning also saw a temporary flower market in Golshahr, Karaj, catch fire, with the fire lasting two hours.

Based on released footage, all stalls in this market were burned. ILNA news agency reported that two people were injured in this incident. This fire resulted in no fatalities.

Meanwhile, Haji Reza Shakermi, Karaj prosecutor, said that the cause of the fire is under investigation and the probable cause was “illegal electrical wiring connections.”

According to the report, at this market, which was established in late last year as part of a plan called “Street Vendor Organization,” approximately 700 people were employed.

According to statistics from Iran’s Ministry of Labor, last year saw 10,513 workplace accidents with 10,697 people affected. In these accidents, 843 people were killed.

According to these statistics, the construction sector with 4,058 accidents and the industrial sector with 3,659 had the highest number of workplace accidents.

In 2016, 812 people lost their lives in work-related accidents. A year before that, the head of the country’s construction workers union had stated that Iran holds the “record” for workplace accidents in the world.

Iranian officials say “carelessness” is the main cause of work-related accidents in Iran, and the majority of accidents occur for this reason. On the other hand, some labor rights activists and campaigners argue that “the government’s policy and its affiliated organizations do not protect the workforce,” and for some employers, “profit maximization is more important than workers’ lives.”

Source: Radio Farda