Two children die in a fire at a preschool in Zahedan
The director of education for Zahedan's second district has resigned after two children died in a fire at a preschool in the city. The cause of the fire was an oil heater that caught fire. Several other children suffered severe burns.
Alireza Nakhaei, the director general of education in Sistan and Baluchestan province, said in an interview with Tasnim news agency on Tuesday, December 18: "Three students who were injured in the fire at the elementary school, named Saba Arabi, Maryam Nokandi, and Mona Khosroparast, died." However, according to the latest news, only two of the injured students have lost their lives.
The condition of another injured child, Yekta Mirshekar, is also reported to be critical. She is hospitalized in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Zahedan.
Initial reports had put the number of children who died at two. Nakhaei said the extent of burns to two students at the preschool was up to 90 percent and to two others up to 70 percent.
According to Khosrow Saravani, head of the Zahedan Fire Department, the fire occurred at 9 a.m. on Tuesday in a non-governmental girls' preschool and elementary school on Mustafa Khomeini Street in Zahedan.
Saravani said that firefighters managed to evacuate 55 students who were trapped in the smoke and fire from the scene.
Regarding the cause of the fire, the head of the Zahedan Fire Department noted: "Initial investigations conducted by the organization's experts revealed that the fire started from an oil lamp, but investigations into the exact cause of the incident are ongoing."
Resignation of the Director of Education of District 2
Ali Moradi, the public relations director of the General Education Department of Sistan and Baluchestan, stated in an interview with IRNA on Tuesday: "After this incident, Malik Mohammad Sanjrani submitted his resignation from the education department of Zahedan's 2nd district to the provincial director general of education."
Mordadi said that an arrest warrant for the principal and educational instructor of the Zahedan school involved in the incident has been issued by the Zahedan Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor, and his resignation is under review.
According to the Director of Public Relations for Education, the negligence of the director and educational instructor of this preschool school has been proven by Movahedi Rad, the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Zahedan, and an arrest order has been issued in this regard.
In numerous other cases, the use of old heaters and substandard heating devices in schools has caused fires and the deaths and injuries of students.
One such case was the fire at the Dorudzan School in Marvdasht County, Fars Province, which occurred in December 2006. In this incident, eight students were burned to death when the only heating device in the classroom, an Aladdin heater, caught fire and continued to live with disfigured faces.
Another notable incident was the oil heater fire at the “Neday Enghelab” girls’ primary school in Shinabad village of Piranshahr in West Azerbaijan in December 2012, which resulted in the death of two students and the injury of 28 others. Twelve of these students were reported to have suffered severe burns.
The injured girls, known as the “Shinabadi Girls,” have repeatedly complained about their treatment and have called for them to be sent abroad for treatment. They and their parents gathered in front of the presidential office in Tehran on July 17 of this year to protest their treatment and the problems it poses.
A fire caused by an electrical short in a boarding school in Chabahar in November 2010, or a fire in a dormitory at a high school affiliated with maritime sciences in Chabahar in November 2011, are other examples of incidents that occur due to substandard heating systems in schools in Iran.
Source: DW
