At least 250 people in the town of Ramhormoz, mostly children, have been poisoned due to water contamination, in the city of Ramhormoz, south west of Iran.
The city’s governor, Abdolreza Ehsani Nia was cited by the state-run IRNA news agency as declaring, “From Saturday until Monday morning, 350 poisoned people residing in the village of Abu al Fares visited the treatment centers in the city.” According to the official, 78 of these people were hospitalized in Sina, Naft Ahwaz and Ramhormoz hospitals.
He did not mention the reason of poisoning spread among hundreds of the residents.
According to reports, people who have been poisoned, live in the villages of “Shahid Rayegani”, “Setalvan” and “Kaboutari” in Abu al Fares district.
Ataollah Sherali, head of the Ramhormz health center, said the poisoned people have suffered from diarrhea and fever.
He declared the possible cause of the poisoning of these people as “contaminated with water.” The official had warned about two years ago that the water of the Abu al Fares Districts was infected because of “non-compliance with the principles of water chlorination.” According to the head of the Ramhormoz health center, the amount of chlorine at the beginning of the pipeline is high, but along the way, chlorine combines with organic matter in the water, so that at the end of the pipeline, no more chlorine left.
According to IRNA, quoting Shukrollah Salmanzadeh, head of the Khuzestan Health Center, “The cause of poisoning is certainly the consumption of contaminated water because due to 20 hours of water being cut-off, people used spring water and after the water was connected, chlorine-free water has been entering the supply networks.” However, the authorities of the Khuzestan province have denied any water pollution.
The news of recent poisoning of Ramhormoz residents came just days after protests over water shortages turned violent overnight with reports of police shooting at demonstrators, killing at list one.