The Silence of Officials Regarding the Series of Student Poisonings – Part Two
The Silence of Officials Regarding the Series of Student Poisonings: According to Iran Gate, there are reports of an order from the Qom prosecutor’s office to investigate the matter. Numerous reports indicate the dispatch of emergency teams to several schools to assist students and teachers. Additionally, there are reports of some students and teachers being hospitalized in various hospitals in Qom following the release of an unknown gas in schools. However, some claim all these are rumors and fabrications, asserting that no one has been poisoned and the news is false.
Student Poisonings Continue to Claim Victims
There are many rumors, ranging from a substance being dissolved in a school’s water purification system to ISIS being behind the scenes. However, verified news is scarce and often unverifiable. What news are we talking about? In one instance, the father of a female student explained that around two-thirty, his daughter called her mother from an unknown number. Her voice was faint and she seemed terrified, shouting for help and saying a toxic gas had been released in the school.
When I arrived at the school, it was surrounded by worried parents’ cars and emergency vehicles, including police, fire trucks, and ambulances. My daughter, who was extremely frightened, said at least one person had fainted at the school. From this brief report, it’s clear that emergency teams have taken the reports of gas release in Qom schools seriously and, as some say, these reports are not just students’ fabrications.
The first report of toxic gas release in a school in Qom dates back to the ninth of Azar (December). What we know is that during this incident, 18 female vocational school students were hospitalized. Their symptoms included shortness of breath and numbness in the muscles of their legs and arms. No one has provided a description of what the released smell in the school resembled.
Majid Mohammadi, acting deputy of treatment at Qom University of Medical Sciences, told the media two days after the incident that the students’ symptoms were not severe, the poisoning was not due to a specific substance, and it was clear that what occurred was a respiratory poisoning. Mr. Mohammadi also confirmed that teams from the Passive Defense Organization have been tasked with sampling the gas said to have been released in the school. On the day of the first report, Mr. Mohammadi mentioned that the results of the investigations would be announced later, although this promised ‘later’ has not arrived soon.
Most of the students who were poisoned in this incident quickly returned home. A few who had prolonged symptoms were eventually discharged, and Dr. Mohammadi emphasized that the issue was not serious, the poisoning was mild, and it had been resolved. Some students did not attend school for a few days after the incident, but school officials insisted that everything was normal and reprimanded the students who were absent. It seemed the situation was under control, and there was no report from the defense on the cause of the incident when the same school was once again involved in a report of toxic gas release.
This time, on the twenty-fifth of Azar (December), students reported smelling a strange odor in the school from around the morning and informed school officials that they felt in danger, but they were accused of trying to skip class. Around twelve-thirty the same day, the mysterious odor became unbearable. This time, by two o’clock, fifty-one students were sent to the hospital.
No one has yet said what the released smell in the school resembled. Was it like fruit, chemicals, or spices? What we know is that if the students’ reports are correct, we are not dealing with carbon monoxide poisoning, a gas resulting from incomplete combustion of city gas, because this gas is odorless and can only be detected based on a feeling of heaviness and then unconsciousness.
Once again, the symptoms of the female students included throat and nasal irritation, shortness of breath, and muscle pain. Most of them reported having difficulty walking, and a few were hospitalized. While the results of the tests taken from the poisoned students two weeks ago have not been released, tests were conducted again on the poisoned students, but no report of the results has been published. Two weeks after the recurrence of poisoning at Noor School, on the eighth of Bahman (January), reports of mass poisoning of female students this time at a school in Safadasht, Qom, were released, though the symptoms were different.
The public relations of Qom University of Medical Sciences stated that 15 students with symptoms of dizziness and nausea were brought to the hospital. Again, there is no description of the smell of gas released in the school. From here on, the interval between reports of poisoning in schools is shorter, and their number increases. On the tenth of Bahman (January), 18 students and a teacher from Fatemieh High School in the Safashahr area were taken to the hospital by ambulance bus. Their symptoms were similar to those of the students who went to the hospital from the same area on the eighth of Bahman, including dizziness and nausea. At noon on the twelfth of Bahman, seven female students from Balqis School were sent to the hospital with nausea and dizziness.
Four days later, on the sixteenth of Bahman, female students from Gharaiti High School in Pardisan, Qom, along with students from Meysam School in the Salarieh area, Taha School, and Emami School, were sent to the hospital with symptoms of poisoning. The number of students and school staff who were poisoned that day has not been announced, nor have their symptoms been reported. The only thing we know is that on this day, for the first time, male students from a boys’ school were also sent to the hospital with symptoms of poisoning.
On the seventh of Bahman, four more reports were released of students being taken to the hospital with symptoms of poisoning. Students from Hazrat Fatemeh Zahra School in the 30-meter Keyvanfar area, Shahed Razavi School in the vocational area, and some students from Seyed Hassan Barghaei Vocational School in the Ammar Yaser neighborhood were taken to the hospital with nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. The number of students affected on this day is also unclear.
We still don’t know much about the recent school incidents in Qom. We know that at least one member of the Qom Provincial Security Council has met with some of the affected students. We know that the Qom prosecutor’s office has promised to follow up, and one of Qom’s representatives in parliament has said the matter is under investigation. Two months and ten days have passed since the first report of poisoning in Qom schools. Twelve schools, most of them girls’ schools, have reported poisonings. Most poisoning reports have been announced around noon.
Parents of students and school teachers are worried, but none are willing to speak publicly about the incident with confidence. A general practitioner in Qom who has examined some students with poisoning symptoms says that official hospital authorities should comment on this matter, and doctors are unwilling to speak about the incident due to concerns about releasing private patient information.
Zolnouri, a representative from Qom, recently said regarding the school incidents in Qom that the matter is a security issue and security officials are investigating the matter. Perhaps these few words are enough to explain the difficulty in accessing official information about this incident. Another Qom representative, Amir Abadifarhani, also said he would question the Minister of Education about these incidents, but it’s unclear when this question will be asked and whether the minister’s explanations can be relied upon.
Dr. Mohammadi, after the incidents on the sixteenth of Bahman, said in an interview that the cause of the respiratory symptoms in students in Qom schools is rapid breathing. ISNA Qom reported on the seventeenth of Bahman that investigations by the fire department and Qom health center in the four schools that reported poisoning on the sixteenth of Bahman showed that the four schools, Gharaiti, Pardisan, Meysam in the Salarieh area, Taha, and Emami, were not contaminated with any identifiable gas, and at least one of the student poisoning incidents at Emami School was due to carbon monoxide inhalation.
It has also been stated that 18 students from Meysam Tamar School experienced respiratory symptoms due to anxiety, and there is no news of poisoning. What is happening in Qom schools these days may only be due to the psychological impact of spreading a rumor. It may be, as Dr. Mohammadi said, that the reports are due to increased anxiety.
The fact that a rumor can affect the psychological security of people, especially teenagers, cannot be denied. However, in this case, there are significant questions that have not yet been answered, including where are the results of the toxicology tests taken from the students? Why hasn’t the report from the Passive Defense Organization been released, at least regarding the few schools that reported gas poisoning in Azar (December)?
On the twelfth of Bahman, the Qom Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor held a meeting regarding the student poisoning reports in schools, attended by the Qom Deputy Governor and officials from the Passive Defense Organization, the Faculty of Medical Sciences, the fire department, and the Province’s Education Department in the Qom Prosecutor’s Office. What explanation do the reports presented by the institutions at this meeting provide about this incident?
Ultimately, if all this is a rumor and the poisoning reports are due to carbon monoxide inhalation and anxiety, why does Zolnouri, the Qom representative, say this is a security issue? Recognized journalists have contacted one of the members of the Qom Provincial Security Council, the secretary of this council, and some other officials in Qom to complete this report, but no one is willing to make an official statement about the issue.
The series of articles on student poisoning has been exclusively reviewed in Iran Gate. You can also read other parts of this article.
- The Deliberate Nature of the Series of Student Poisonings – Part Three
- The Unanswered Mystery of the Series of Student Poisonings