A fire that engulfed a drug rehabilitation center in northern Iran has resulted in the deaths of at least 32 individuals, according to authorities.
The blaze erupted early on Friday in Langarud, a city in the Caspian Sea province of Gilan, located north of Tehran. Esmail Sadeghi, a provincial chief justice, reported that an additional 16 individuals were transported to hospitals.
While Iran imposes the death penalty on repeat drug smugglers and dealers, it also runs several rehabilitation programs for addicts. The cause of the fire remains unclear, but an investigation is reportedly underway.
Iran has one of the world’s highest per-capita rates of opioid addiction and is situated on a major smuggling route for opium originating from Afghanistan.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2020, Iran accounted for 47% of the global heroin and morphine seizures originating from Afghanistan.
In June, Amnesty International reported that Iran had executed at least 173 people convicted of drug-related offenses this year after “systematically unfair trials,” nearly three times more than the previous year.