Saudi Shiite pilgrims die of poisoning in Iran hotel

Victims are teenage girl and three boys all aged 3; authorities say no evidence deaths were deliberate

By AP 9 June 2015, 12:48 am

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Imam Reza Shiite shrine in the Iranian city of Mashhad. (CC BY-SA IA Iahsan, Wikimedia)

TEHRAN — Iranian authorities arrested five people over the deaths of four young Saudi pilgrims as a result of insect spraying in their hotel, officials said Monday.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, the spokesman for the judiciary, as saying authorities are investigating the incident. The five people arrested are all employees of the hotel.

“There is no evidence to show the incident was a deliberate act,” Ejehi said, without elaborating on the nature of the charges.

IRNA said the victims included a 14-year-old girl and three young boys, all age 3. Ejehi said 24 other people were hospitalized over exposure to the poison, which is commonly used to kill insects and rats.

The incident took place in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, which is home to a major Shiite Muslim Shrine. The city is visited by nearly two million foreign pilgrims each year, coming from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain, Azerbaijan and the Indian subcontinent.

The Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, a government agency, said in a statement that insect repellant sprayed on the fifth floor of the hotel accidentally leaked into the pilgrims’ rooms.