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Fire at Hospital in Iran’s North Kills 9 Patients

The Iranian flag. (AFP)
The Iranian flag. (AFP)
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Fire at Hospital in Iran’s North Kills 9 Patients

The Iranian flag. (AFP)
The Iranian flag. (AFP)

A fire broke out at a hospital in Iran's north, killing nine patients, state media reported Tuesday.

The blaze started at 1:30 local time (2200GMT) at Qaem Hospital in the city of Rasht, some 330 kilometers (about 205 miles) northwest of the capital Tehran, state TV said, leaving six women and three men dead.

Chief of the city fire department, Shahram Momeni, said on state TV that an electric short circuit in the basement — which harbors the intensive care unit — malfunctioned, causing the fire.

Momeni said emergency workers rescued more than 140 people, patients and hospital staff, after being trapped because of the smoke, and that 120 of them were hospitalized in other medical facilities. He added that an investigation has been ordered.

A video posted online appeared to show smoke billowing from the hospital in the middle of the night.

Iranian media occasionally report on fires in hospitals and clinics that are mainly blamed on technical issues.

In 2020, an explosion from a gas leak in a medical clinic in northern Tehran killed 19 people.

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At Least 121 People, Mostly Women, Killed in India Stampede

Police tape cordons off the scene a day after a fatal stampede, in Fulrai village of Hathras district, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Police tape cordons off the scene a day after a fatal stampede, in Fulrai village of Hathras district, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
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At Least 121 People, Mostly Women, Killed in India Stampede

Police tape cordons off the scene a day after a fatal stampede, in Fulrai village of Hathras district, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Police tape cordons off the scene a day after a fatal stampede, in Fulrai village of Hathras district, India, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

The death toll from a stampede at a Hindu religious gathering in northern India has risen to 121, news agency ANI reported on Wednesday, where a police report said the number of people present was more than triple the organizers had permission for.

The stampede on Tuesday was at the religious event in a village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state, about 200 km southeast of New Delhi, where police had given permission for 80,000 people to gather, according to the document, the first information report.

Around 250,000 people attended the event, according to the police report reviewed by Reuters.

At least 121 people were killed and 28 were injured, ANI news agency reported, citing local officials.

The victims included 108 women and seven children, Manoj Kumar Singh, Uttar Pradesh state's chief secretary, told reporters.

The document described a scene of utter chaos when the preacher at the congregation, Surajpal, also known as 'Bhole Baba', was leaving in his car.

Thousands of devotees shouted and ran towards the car, crushing others still sitting in the gathering, according to the document. Some people also fell into an adjacent field of slush and mud and were trampled there.

Local media said the event was organized by a group of devotees, but did not identify anyone. ANI news agency said police were trying to ascertain the whereabouts of the preacher.
Deadly incidents are common at places of worship during major religious festivals in India, the biggest of which prompt millions of devotees to make pilgrimages to holy sites.

Chaitra V., divisional commissioner of Aligarh city in Uttar Pradesh state, initially said panic began when "attendees were exiting the venue when a dust storm blinded their vision, leading to a melee".

But Singh told reporters after visiting the site that worshippers had scrambled to get close to the preacher.