IRAN: PRESIDENT MOHAMMAD KHATAMI VISITS EARTHQUAKE SITE /VICTIMS BURIED IN MASS GRAVE

Record ID: 317058

  • Title: IRAN: PRESIDENT MOHAMMAD KHATAMI VISITS EARTHQUAKE SITE /VICTIMS BURIED IN MASS GRAVE
  • Date: 31st December 2003
  • Summary: (W6) BAM, IRAN (DECEMBER 29, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. AERIAL OF BAM; AERIAL OF AID TRUCKS MOVING AROUND TOWN; AV HELICOPTER IN AIR (3 SHOTS) 0.18 2. SLV IRANIAN PRESIDENT MOHAMMAD KHATAMI STEPPING OFF HELICOPTER, GREETING LOCAL OFFICIALS; MV KHATAMI WALKING TO VAN, PEOPLE RUNNING AFTER HIS VAN; KHATAMI IN MOVING VAN (4 SHOTS) 0.47 3. (SOUNDBITE)
  • Embargoed: 15th January 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAM, IRAN
  • Country: Iran
  • Reuters ID: LVA4IKTGPKREONRAY2UHLP1F8SGH
  • Story Text: Iranian President Mohammad Khatami visits Bam,
    earthquake victims are buried in mass graves.

    Iranian President Mohammad Khatami flew into Bam on
    Monday (December 29) to see the devastation caused by
    Friday's earthquake.

    Officials estimate that the death toll could reach up
    to 30,000 and that another 30,000 people were injured in
    the quake. Aid workers put the number of homeless in the
    Bam area at more than 100,000.

    Aid poured in from around the world after President
    Mohammad Khatami appealed for help from anywhere but Israel
    in contrast with Iran's rejection of assistance in 1990
    when a quake killed 36,000.

    On his tour of Bam, Khatami met with leaders of foreign
    aid teams.

    "We have a lot of issues and problems to deal with
    urgently. But of course the nature of these problems is
    different from the issues we will have to face later on,"
    Khatami told the aid workers. "The priority at the moment
    is to resettle the people and refugees who have been made
    homeless and look after the great number of people injured."
    Iranian volunteers are also racing to dig graves for
    thousands of earthquake victims.

    Bulldozers cut trenches in the ground next to the
    cemetery and fully clothed bodies sprayed with disinfectant
    were lowered almost continuously into the makeshift graves.

    Islam demands burial within a day and rescue workers
    also fear outbreaks of disease.

    An estimated 25,000 victims have already been buried,
    but on Monday, mass burials continued into the night.


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