Fire in Iranian mental hospital kills 1, wounds 35

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian state media says a fire in a mental hospital has killed one person and wounded 35.

The official IRNA news agency says the fire broke out early Saturday in the northwestern city of Tabriz.

IRNA quotes Jali Sattari of the Tabriz fire department as saying one person died due to "thick smoke and confined space."

Authorities have blamed a string of recent accidental explosions on disregard of safety regulations. On Wednesday, a gas explosion in a residential building in the southern Iranian city of Ahvaz killed six people and wounded 11.