Key points
- Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Ilam and Kurdistan provinces affected
- Air Quality Index recorded at 108 in Bushehr
- Figure 4 times higher than what is deemed acceptable by WHO
ISLAMABAD: Iranian authorities ordered schools and offices closed in seven western provinces Tuesday as a dust storm swept in from neighbouring Iraq, with around 13 million people told to stay indoors.
Khuzestan, Kermanshah, Ilam and Kurdistan provinces were all affected, and state television cited local officials as blaming the closures on high levels of accumulated dust.
Government and private offices also shut in several provinces including Kermanshah and Ilam, as well as Khuzestan in the southwest.
Zanjan in the northeast and Bushehr in the south were also hit.
“Poor for sensitive groups”
Bushehr, nearly 1,100 kilometres (680 miles) south of Tehran, was given an Air Quality Index of 108 on Tuesday, rated “poor for sensitive groups”.
That figure is more than four times higher than the concentration of air microparticles deemed acceptable by the World Health Organization.
Iran’s meteorological authorities said the conditions were caused by “the movement of a large mass of dust from Iraq towards western Iran”.
State television reported low visibility in some areas and urged residents to remain inside and to wear face masks if they had to go out.
Breathing problems
Last month, a similar dust storm in Iraq grounded flights and sent thousands of people to hospital with breathing problems.
On Monday, Iran’s IRNA state news agency reported that more than 240 people in Khuzestan province had been treated for respiratory issues because of the dust.
Last month, more than 1,000 people were left with respiratory problems after a sandstorm swept across Iraq’s central and southern parts of the country.
One official in Muthanna province reported that at least 700 cases of what they said was suffocation.
According to the BBC, footage shared online showed areas cloaked in a thick orange haze, with local media reporting power cuts and the suspension of flights in a number of regions.
