Ajit Karn
Tehran: State media reported that twenty Iranian schoolgirls were hospitalized on Tuesday following the latest in an enigmatic surge of poisoning attacks that have sickened thousands of students.
According to IRNA, the females were treated for shortness of breath in Tabriz, the capital of the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan.
Asghar Jafari, head of the city’s emergency service, told IRNA, “Emergency experts were immediately dispatched to the scene after receiving a report that a number of students from one of the girls high schools in Tabriz were in critical condition.”
He added that the “vital signs… and general condition of all students is good.”
Since late November, more than 5,000 students have reported dizziness, vertigo, shortness of breath, and other symptoms after smelling “unpleasant” odors; some have required hospitalization.
The inexplicable attacks in approximately 230 schools have instilled fear and fury among students and parents.
Monday marked the return to school after the two-week Nowruz holiday.
Iran announced more than 100 arrests in relation to the poisonings at the beginning of March, alleging that the unidentified perpetrators may have ties to “hostile” groups.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, has demanded that the perpetrators of the “unpardonable crime” be traced down “without mercy.”
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The poisonings began two months into the protests that seized Iran following the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained for allegedly violating dress codes for women.
Schools in 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces have been attacked, according to the most recent official tally.
