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Iranwire – At least 357 people have died in Tehran over the past eight days amid severe air pollution, which may have contributed to the fatalities, the head of the city’s emergency services said.
Mohammad Esmail Tavakoli, director of Tehran’s emergency organization, said that the city received 57,000 emergency calls and conducted 28,000 missions during this period, with 31 per cent of cases linked to complications from air pollution.
The deaths happened as Tehran experienced consecutive days of “very unhealthy” air quality.
Tavakoli criticized officials for failing to enforce the Clean Air Act while expecting emergency services to compensate for the consequences.
“Some officials have set aside the Clean Air Act, and now those same people expect emergency forces to be deployed,” he said.
He added that Tehran’s emergency system faces critical shortages, including 400 stations and 500 ambulances, warning that taking even a single ambulance out of service causes “irreparable damage.”
Tavakoli urged government authorities to address these shortages as the city’s population continues to endure hazardous air quality.
