At least 59 people died and more than 250 were injured in a blaze in a Teheran mosque after a female worshipper's veil caught fire from a kerosene heater, Iran's official news agency reported Tuesday.
 
The Arg Mosque was filled on Monday with about 400 worshippers, more crowded than usual because of the Islamic month of Muharram, a holy time for Shi'ite Muslims. The mosque can hold 600 people.

Outside one hospital where the wounded were taken, 38-year-old Mansour, wailing and beating his chest, was searching for his wife and two young daughters. He had been at work at the time of the fire.

"I am desperate. I can't find them anywhere on any list of any hospital," said Mansour, whose last name was drowned out by his screams.

"I wish I had died instead of them. I had a lot of hope for them. But now all of them are burned," said the bearded black-clad Mansour as he wept.

Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) said the fire started when the veil of a female worshipper got caught up in a kerosene heater on the upper floor of the mosque. The flames spread to a thick green cloth that covered the ceiling and walls of the mosque in commemoration of the holy month.

Panicking people raced for the doors and smashed windows to escape the blaze, one witness said. Women, who pray on the second floor of the mosque separate from men, had to race down stairs and through a narrow doorway to get out. Many stumbled and were trampled in the frenzied stampede to escape.

"Pieces of burning cloth fell on the heads of the worshippers, who stopped praying and smashed windows to run out of the mosque in panic," the eyewitness said, requesting anonymity.

The mosque walls were charred, carpets were burned and religious books were destroyed. Burned shoes and women's black chadors left behind by fleeing worshippers were scattered in the mosque yard.

Teheran Police Chief Brigadier General Morteza Talaie said the death toll at midnight stood at 59 people, IRNA reported.

IRNA quoted rescue workers as saying more than 250 people were injured in the fire.

Hospital records showed that 40 of the deaths and the majority of the casualties were women.

The wounded were taken to six hospitals in the capital, and police were guarding the doors to limit the entrance of emotional relatives who were desperate for news of their loved ones.

Teheran residents lined up to donate blood for the injured.

(China Daily February 16, 2005)