Thirty-five people died and 200 were injured yesterday when a faulty electrical heater started a blaze in a Tehran mosque crowded with worshippers, Iranian state television reported. Aid workers and emergency services swarmed around the mosque, a Reuters witness said. The interior was blackened and strewn with burned shoes and clothes. Tehran's chief of police Morteza Talaee confirmed the death toll of 35 at the scene. Many people flocked to the Arg mosque searching for loved ones. "I have come to look for my daughter but I am scared she is dead," said Zeinab, clad in the all-enveloping black chador.The students news agency ISNA reported a blast was heard then tents inside the mosque caught fire. Terrified worshippers trampled others trying to escape, some smashing windows in their desperation to flee the flames. "I saw some women throw themselves out of a second floor window, some died like that, others from smoke inhalation," said one of the guards at the mosque. ISNA reported the blaze started in the section set aside for women. Television said 20 of the dead were women.
| A blast, then the tents inside the mosque caught fire. Yep. Sounds just like an electrical fire to me. |