Reports from Iranian news agencies indicate that at least nine people lost their lives in a fire at the private Qaem Hospital in Rasht.
This 250-bed hospital caught fire at 1:13 AM on Tuesday, June 18.
Sadegh Niaraki, the Chief Justice of Gilan Province, told Iranian state television that following the incident, eight people who were hospitalized in the ICU lost their lives, and 120 injured were also admitted to other medical centers.
Hours later, it was announced that the death toll had increased to nine.
Mohammad Taghi Ashoobi, the President of Gilan University of Medical Sciences, stated that about 140 patients were hospitalized at the time of the fire.
The head of the Rasht Fire and Safety Services Organization also mentioned that the fire started from the basement but did not refer to the cause of the incident.
On November 3, 2023, 36 people lost their lives in a fire at the “First Step to Liberation” addiction rehab center in the city of Langarud, Gilan Province.
On January 5, the Gandhi Hospital in Tehran also burned down. The CEO of the Tehran Fire Department told ISNA news agency that “if a thousandth of the damage caused to this hospital had been spent on safety, this incident would not have occurred on such a scale.”
The Iranian regime has a long history of not adhering to safety regulations in buildings, and fires and collapses of buildings in Iran claim many lives annually. In December 2016, the Plasco Building in Tehran caught fire and subsequently collapsed, resulting in at least 25 deaths.
On May 23, 2022, the Metropol Building in Abadan collapsed while still under construction. The cause of the collapse was the lack of safety measures and security checks by the municipality. In this incident, 43 people lost their lives.
