Deadly gas poisons residents in Iranian city

Iran Focus: Tehran, Nov. 6 – Officials in the city of Masjid Soleiman (southwestern Iran) have admitted for the first time that harmful gases polluted the area, leaving behind
numerous fatalities as well as permanent physical side effects on residents including brain damage, severe chest infections and respiratory problems. Iran Focus

Tehran, Nov. 6 – Officials in the city of Masjid Soleiman (southwestern Iran) have admitted for the first time that harmful gases polluted the area, leaving behind numerous fatalities as well as permanent physical side effects on residents including brain damage, severe chest infections and respiratory problems.

For years local villagers and city dwellers have complained of widespread pollution throughout the city, accusing officials of giving a green light to chemical-production factories to dump industrial waste in urban areas.

The deputy director of the department of medicine of Masjid Soleiman’s Ministry of Health revealed yesterday for the first time that sulphur-hydroxide gas was ejected in densely populated areas fatally poisoning many elderly people and leaving many people with irreversible brain damage.

One local resident said: “I have seven children all of whom suffer from severe respiratory problems. I have lost all hope of seeing any of them get better”.

The official who yesterday revealed the cause of the people’s condition also warned that elderly and middle-aged individuals were at most risk of being poisoned.

Following the revelations government officials were quick to respond to the allegations. The governor of Masjid Soleiman said to reporters that at present 700 temporary housing facilities are being built in pollution-free zones “following reports of medical mishaps”

Since the 1979 revolution many Iranian cities have become the worst polluted urban areas with the Iranian capital Tehran ranking as the third most polluted city in the world.