Breaking News: The U.S. was responsible for a missile strike on an Iranian school, an ongoing military investigation found. The inquiry said the strike — which Iranian officials said killed at least 175 people — was the result of a targeting mistake. https://t.co/88FIdIJOQi
At 11 am on Saturday, Aria’s mom got a call from his teacher asking parents to come pick up their kids. But seven minutes later, the teacher’s phone went out of reach.
After the first strike hit the warehouses very close to the school, a second missile was fired directly at Shajareh Tayyebeh School.
A rescuer present at the school says most of the bodies were found in groups, lying next to each other. In the hallways there were rows of them side by side. In the prayer room, they found groups of children who had been led there as a final shelter.
During the final stage of clearing the rubble, when they reached the school floor, they found tiny fragments of bodies stuck to the metal pieces of the missile showing the rocket hit right where a group of terrified children had gathered. Marks on the courtyard wall also showed that the blast wave had thrown some students outside.
During the rescue operation (around 3:30 PM), more strikes happened. One hit a clinic and the others landed some distance away. In those attacks, one person in a pharmacy and another person in the street (from the blast wave) were killed. In total, besides 46 girls, 73 boys, and 26 teachers, four parents also lost their lives.
One parent first took their own child out, then went back to rescue another child. They were later found under the rubble holding a child in their arms. Another teacher had taken their own children outside and returned to help other students. She and her youngest child who had run after her back to the school were both killed.
Many families did not leave the rubble until 6 PM the next day. Every time a body part was found, they ran toward the rescuers hoping it might be a sign of their loved one. Aria was identified the same Saturday by his school uniform and shoes. He loved playing in his family’s village and he was buried there.
The school complex included two elementary schools the girls’ “Shajareh Tayyebeh” and the boys’ “Rahpouyan Shohadaye Khalij Fars” as well as a preschool. The girls studied on the upper floors and the boys on the lower floors. ( credit: @neginbagheri91 )