Thirteen Iranian schoolchildren died today in a fire that broke out after a malfunctioning heater ignited a barrel of paraffin.
Eighteen other students were injured, some of them seriously, by the blaze in Safilan, 435 miles south of Tehran.
A teacher at the elementary school who tried to save the children was admitted to hospital with serious burns. The District Governor said the dead were seven girls and six boys.
He said that owing to technical failure, flames shot out of the heater and ignited the paraffin that had been left nearby. He gave no other details.
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AP