Four Saudi children, aged between three and 14 years old, have died due to what local reports are calling a mass poisoning at a hotel in Mashhad, Iran.
More than 28 others have been hospitalized due to the incident at the hotel, which seems to have been caused by exposure to a rat poison that had been previously banned in Iran because it was possibly not safe for humans.
“An investigation has been launched into the management and staff of the hotel, and five people are under arrest,” Iranian spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei told the press.
IRNA, Iran’s official state news agency, has reported that the poisonings were accidental, though officials have closed the hotel and are launching an investigation into the incident.
“In the initial investigation, no evidence showing the incident was a deliberate act was found,” an Iranian prosecutor told Press TV, an arm of Iranian state media.
The Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran is working with Iranian authorities to find more details about the incident, and the Saudi Gazette reports that the embassy has opened a hotline with the hospital where most of the victims have been taken.
The group staying in the hotel were believed to be religious pilgrims visiting Mashhad, which is home to a major shrine for Shia Muslims. The city sees over two million religious pilgrims visiting every year, mostly from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, India and Pakistan.
At last report, most of the victims were still in intensive care.
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