More Iranian schoolgirls sickened in suspected poisoning wave

By Arsalan Shahla | Bloomberg

Hundreds of schoolgirls were taken to hospitals across Iran on Saturday, state media reported, as suspected chemical attacks on the country’s girls schools continued.

Saturday marked possibly the worst day so far in a wave of unexplained illnesses dating back to November: at least 300 girls in more than a dozen cities were treated for various symptoms of unknown origin, according to reports by state-run and semi-official news agencies.

Parents protested in Tehran and other cities over the suspected poison attacks, according to unconfirmed videos posted on social media.

More than 120 girls were treated in the western city of Hamedan and neighboring Kabudarahang county for nausea, fatigue and dizziness, Iranian Students’ News Agency reported.

Suspected poisonings were also reported in girls schools in five cities near Tehran, including Eslamshahr, Shahriar and Robat Karim, west of the capital.

In the holy city of Qom, home to a Shiite shrine and where the first instances of poisoning was reported, 44 girls were taken to hospital, Mehr news agency said. Officials also reported the poisoning of three staff members in addition to 30 students of a girls high school in the city of Urmia in Iran’s northwest.

While girls have overwhelmingly been targeted, the Hammihan newspaper on Saturday reported poisonings at a boys elementary school in the western city of Boroujerd. It followed unconfirmed reports on social media of gas poison attacks on boys schools in the cities of Rasht and Karaj.

Authorities moved earlier this week to investigate after reports of suspected poisonings escalated in scale and severity.

Vahidi on Saturday said in a statement that no deaths have resulted from the incidents and that “suspicious samples” collected from 52 schools are being tested.

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