Tehran: At least 27 people died, and 4,095 others were injured in Iran during the Chaharshanbe Suri (the Scarlet Wednesday) celebrations ahead of the Persian New Year festivities, Jafar Miadfar, the head of Iran’s National Medical Emergency Organization, said on Wednesday.
“From March 20 [2022] until Tuesday night [March 14], 27 people died, and 4,095 were wounded during Chaharshanbe Suri celebrations,” Miadfar was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency IRNA.
Chaharshanbe Suri is a festival of the fire dance, which is celebrated on the last Wednesday eve before the vernal equinox — the Nowruz or the Persian New Year. The holiday marks the arrival of spring and the rebirth of nature, with millions of people making fires in the streets and jumping over them.
Nowruz is celebrated in many countries in Western and Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Basin and the Balkans for several days on or around March 21.
