Translated Content:
Lamerd at 5:12 p.m.: Drenched in Blood
One image is shared: “The hospital floor was full of blood; people were drenched in blood.” The accounts of Lamerd’s children are evidence; evidence of the killing of children on 9 Esfand 1404 in a residential neighbourhood in Fars Province, where, at 5:12 p.m., precious lives were lost, many bodies were maimed, and countless psyches were exhausted, worn down, and shaken. Parts of what happened that day have been recounted in recent weeks through interviews, documentaries, and television programmes. But in this report, an effort has been made to present further accounts reported exclusively by *Shargh*. This piece is the result of nearly seven hours of conversations with families, children, and the doctor on shift on 9 Esfand. The coincidence of this incident with what happened in Minab, and then the internet shutdown, caused the accounts from Lamerd to be lost amid other reports; when the internet was restored and access to social media returned, many images and videos were published. In this report, 5:12 p.m. on 9 Esfand is recounted 11 times by 11 people: 11 people who have lost loved ones, whose loved ones have become war-wounded survivors, or who themselves were witnesses at the scene. The list of those killed in Lamerd is divided into several parts. One part is Eisar residential neighbourhood, with the following names: Jafar Hatami-Nia, Hossein Ebrahimi, Zahra Asadinejad, Sakineh Shabani, Ramezan Mansouri, Abedin Gharibdoust, Masoumeh Monfared, Alireza Abbasi, Abazar Amiri, Zahra Gholami, and Siavash Shahbazi. One part is Moallem Boulevard, with the following names: Hamid Amini and Farhad Najafi. One part is Tel Khandagh (Golkhoneh): Avina Barzegar and Robab Dehdashti. One part is the sports hall and football pitch: Mahmoud Najafi, Ilia Khatami, Abdolmossavver Rahmani, Elham Zaeri, and Helma Sadat Ahmadizadeh. One part is Enteghal-e Khun Street: Seyed Reza Mousavi. But the list of the wounded is countless.
**For her father’s sake, they resuscitated her again, even though she had no pulse**
Name: Helma Ahmadizadeh; age: 10 days short of her 11th birthday. Place of the missile strike: Shahid Naeimi Volleyball Hall in Lamerd: “Helma was lying on the floor in the corridor, and around eight people were gathered over her. They were resuscitating her. Her eyes were open. They were open completely normally. I was screaming, Helma, Helma. Her body was warm. I kept saying, bring her back to me. She is alive, she is alive.”
Nadia Nekoukhiz, 42, is Helma’s mother and recounts: “For one or two months, when she came home from school, she was tired, and I would keep calling her, saying get up and go to the club. But she would say, I’m tired. I want to sleep. At 11:30 in the morning on 9 Esfand, when she came home, she said, today I want to go to the club, because Zeinab, my friend, is coming and I want to see her. I said fine. I was not thinking about war at all, or about what had happened that morning. That day, Helma came home, slept for an hour, got up and said she was hungry. I gave her food, she played a little, and at around 3:30 she got up, changed clothes, and said to her father, Daddy, will you take me to the club? Her father answered: yes, my dear. Helma went to the club, but the friends who were supposed to come to the club had not come. At 4:30 she called her father and said, Daddy, are you coming to pick me up? But we did not realise she meant right then. We thought she wanted to stay until the end of her class. Her father again said, yes, my dear, I’ll come and pick you up. It was a quarter to five; her father and I got dressed to go and pick Helma up when the sound of an explosion came. From our house to the club is about 10 minutes by car. We were in the yard when the sound of the next missile came, and I involuntarily screamed, ‘We no longer have Helma.’ Even though I did not even know which part of the city had been hit. Because the city was quiet, the sound of the explosion came through very clearly.”
What made you say, “We no longer have Helma”? What sign did you see?
God is my witness, I do not know.
The mother continues: “My eyes were mistakenly looking to the right, toward the mountain, and all the way until near the club I was only looking in that direction, even though the club was on my left. The closer we got to the club, the more crowded it became. There was very heavy traffic. I got out and, distraught, beating my head, made my way to the club. I saw their coach, Ms Shahabi. She herself was distressed, but she told me, ‘Don’t do this to yourself, Helma is fine, she was just walking around here.’ But she wanted to send me away. She wanted to calm me down. She knew what had happened. We were told the wounded had been taken to the hospital. When we could not find Helma, we went to the hospital. In the sports hall, toward the football pitch, I saw Ilia Khatami, with a piece of clothing pulled over his face. I saw him in front of the club entrance. There were other children too, who had survived and were walking around, crying, waiting for their parents. The hospital is very close to the club; we got there in less than a minute. When I entered the hospital, I saw Helma on the floor.”
What was your reaction?
Helma was lying on the floor in the corridor, and around eight people were gathered over her. They were resuscitating her. Her eyes were open. They were open completely normally. I was screaming, Helma, Helma. Her body was warm. I kept saying, bring her back to me. She is alive, she is alive.
Nadia continues: “I was just screaming, and the nurses and doctors were busy. The hospital was not prepared at all for such an incident. They were resuscitating Helma on the floor, not on a bed or a chair. I saw all of this. Before that, at the club, we had been told that Helma had walked to the hospital herself, and when I looked at her appearance I could not see any sign of bleeding. They had taken off her clothes; she was wearing a sports crop top. There was a small black object on her chest. That was all. We saw no blood, no wound. Later they told us that a soldier had carried Helma in his arms and brought her to the hospital. At that point she had been weak. I think Helma had died inside the club. When the medical staff’s efforts produced no result, her father picked her up and carried her toward a bed that had become empty.”
Where had the shrapnel hit Helma? What was the final cause of death?
It had gone into her chest. Into her heart valve. It was so tiny that it could not be seen at all. Nothing was visible on her clothes. But the cause of death was announced as bleeding.
The mother continues: “Later, when we asked around, we were told that inside the hall they had asked her, are you okay? She had said yes. My chest just burns. She herself had told the coach, go and help the others. Nahal Vaseghi, another one of her classmates, was also hit by shrapnel, perhaps a hundred times more than Helma, but thank God she survived. I do not know at all why the shrapnel that hit her was so deadly. After her father put her on the bed, with her uncle following up, a group again came over her, hoping they might save her. But they knew Helma was no longer alive; they did it for her father’s sake. Helma had no pulse at all.” Helma had been going to the club for two years and wanted to become a volleyball player, like her father’s family, who are athletes. Every time she came home, she would say: “Mum, I managed to serve like this, or do that move.”
Helma was the only child of the Ahmadizadeh family. She was an only child and had a very deep emotional bond with her father. When they told her father that Helma had “finished,” her uncle, who was standing there, said he was “expecting at any moment that the father would die on the spot”: “My daughter’s lips had gone dry. It was as if she was thirsty. They brought me her sports water bottle just one or two days ago, after three months. It had been lying in the club hall, but my heart cannot bear going to that neighbourhood. I never will.” Helma was taken to the morgue, and her mother did not see her again until the day of burial: “Last year, someone asked Helma, when you get married, what is your father going to do for you? She had said he will light up the whole alley for me. And that is what happened. We have set up a mourning station in Helma’s name for Muharram. The alley will be lit up, but not for Helma’s wedding — for mourning her.” Her father was supposed to buy her a motorbike for her 11th birthday, and throughout that time she had been excited about that motorbike: “We buried her in the cemetery of Lamerd city. Elham Zaeri’s grave is a little distance away from hers. Helma and Elham were not close friends, but now her mother and I have become close.” The mother wants to thank Helma’s teacher, principal, and school supervisor, who stood beside her and stayed with her.
During this period, Nadia had strange headaches and would sleep with medication. She is a little better now and says that just last night, for the first time, she dreamed of Helma. Helma had told her: “Mum, tomorrow I want to go to school. She showed me a picture, related to one of those killed. I did not know who it was. A man around 25 years old. She said, tomorrow I want to take this to school; draw it for me.”
**My Elham, which star are you?**
Name: Elham Zaeri; age: 11. Place of the missile strike: Shahid Naeimi Volleyball Hall in Lamerd: “The flesh on her back had been torn to shreds. I thought those pieces of flesh belonged to the body of one of the other children and had been splashed onto my daughter. But they were hers. The shrapnel had entered her body; it had gone in from one side and come out from the other. There was a large hole in my daughter’s back. Her back and abdomen had been hit by shrapnel. Bleeding took her life.”
The mother falls asleep in the mornings. At noon, she wakes up with difficulty. In the first days, they took her to a doctor; the psychiatrist gave her medication. Then they told her she needed to see a counsellor who would talk to her. She was supposed to start doing that but could not. Her shoulder and neck hurt; the left side of her body has shooting pains. She is unable to speak, does not cook, fruit has spoiled in the refrigerator. She has abandoned life. Of an hour and 30 minutes of conversation, she spent nearly 30 minutes crying. She had no strength to speak. Nearly four months have passed since her daughter was killed, but it is as if the news was brought to her an hour ago.
Narges Arvand, 44, Elham Zaeri’s mother, recounts: “Elham was my only daughter. I have two older sons, one Erfan and the other Ehsan. Elham was born in 1394 and was in the fifth grade. On 9 Esfand, after she came home from school, we were watching what had happened in Minab on television together, and I was extremely upset. Elham went to her room and wanted to get ready to go to the club. That day, at around 2:30, I went out to the street with my son Erfan to shop. We said it would probably be shut down and it would be better to go to Shiraz. Her father and Elham were at home. Elham told her father that she wanted to go to the club. Her father had said, ‘Dear Elham, don’t go. Look, there is a war. It is dangerous.’ But Elham insisted on going. She said her friends were waiting for her. Then she called her coach to see whether the hall was open, and they said yes, it was open. Elham’s father called me at 3:35 and said, come and take Elham to the club. When we got to the club, there were about seven or eight minutes left before her class started. The distance from our house to the sports hall is about one and a half kilometres. I told her, ‘My dear, don’t sit in the sun. Go into the shade.’ She said, ‘Okay,’ and we said goodbye. We returned home. We were by the television; I had my phone in my hand and was calling my brother-in-law, who worked at the refinery, when suddenly there was the sound of a very large explosion. My husband went into the yard and shouted, ‘Oh no, they hit Lamerd.’ Then the second and third sounds came, and it was as if a breeze hit our faces. It was the blast wave. We looked from above and saw smoke coming from the direction of the sports hall. My husband shouted, ‘They hit the hall.’ He kept shouting and crying out. With Erfan, who was at home, we got into the car and went toward the hall. The alley and street were crowded. We were in the yard when the sound of the next explosion came. I was no longer in this world. I did not know at all which direction the sound was coming from. When we got near the hall, we saw that the canopies of several houses had been thrown into the street. My eyes could not see much. I was only praying and begging God. Across from the hall, Erfan parked the car and we ran toward the site. Erfan entered the hall. In the meantime, I saw a number of the wounded being put into cars and taken toward the hospital. But I could not see Elham. Several of the children had fallen in front of the entrance and were drenched in blood. There were so many people there. Everywhere was full of dust. Small children were running here and there while covered in blood. A number had been killed. There was blood everywhere. Everyone was running toward the outside door. Right beside the volleyball hall, which is covered, there is a football pitch named Shahid Ghaderi and a basketball court. Just then, I saw Erfan return empty-handed and drenched in blood. He said Elham had fallen inside the hall. It seems he had understood that she had been killed. Because Elham was a little heavy, he had not been able to bring her out. But together with the coach, Ms Shahabi, they had pulled her by the hand and brought her to the entrance of the hall. Her eyes were closed; it was as if she was asleep. They told me, don’t be afraid, it’s nothing. She has fainted. The child is fine. I looked at her and saw that nothing seemed wrong with her. She must have been frightened and fainted. But there was soot on her face and head, and she was covered in dust. My eyes fell to the lower part of her body; her abdomen was drenched in blood. We took her to Haj Mahmoud Haj Heydar Hospital.”
What did you see there?
The hospital was not prepared at all for this number of wounded. There were not enough beds. The wounded were on the floors of the corridors. The corridors were drenched in blood.
The mother continues: “Her father arrived and went with Erfan to Elham’s side. I could not go inside. I was by the other wounded. I was wandering around the courtyard. I was praying. I was begging God, begging the Prophet. I was like a headless chicken. I was going from one side to the other. I saw others who had been killed and had been transferred to the hospital. Some were in the back of pickup trucks. Some were in private cars. I kept saying, God, heal them. God, help them. I was beating my head. Sometimes I would go to the room and see that they were resuscitating her. Then I would go out again. I was lost. Then I saw that her father had started resuscitating her.” At that moment, the doctor went over to her and said, Mr Zaeri, don’t struggle. She has finished. The mother had an intense attachment to her daughter. She had given birth to her after a gap from her two sons, and when they told her it was a girl, the world was hers. Now she cannot believe that four months have passed and that she is still alive: “I wish my daughter were here. I wish she were alive. Even with a disability.” The mother had a difficult pregnancy. She spent many days in bed. Breastfeeding was difficult. She says: “May it have been good for her. May everything I did for her be accepted. I loved her so much that I would put her socks on her feet myself. I would not let her lift a finger.” The mother wants to speak for hours about her daughter: “Elham loved the voice of Hami, the singer. She had made many dubsmashes with his voice. Her dream was to grow up faster and go to a Hami concert. She read the *Shahnameh*. She was good at volleyball and wanted to take part in provincial and national competitions.”
What did you see on Elham’s body?
I had touched her before; the flesh on her back had been torn to shreds. I thought those pieces of flesh belonged to the body of one of the other children and had been splashed onto my daughter. But they were hers. The shrapnel had entered her body; it had gone in from one side and come out from the other. There was a large hole in my daughter’s back. Her back and abdomen had been hit by shrapnel. Bleeding took her life.
Narges continues: “They put Elham’s body inside a body bag and took her to the morgue. This happened on Saturday, and the funeral ceremony was held on Monday. They had held this ceremony for all those killed. They buried her in the central martyrs’ section, in Shah Hassan cemetery.” Narges and Nadia, Helma’s mother, are both grieving. Both have lost their daughters, and from night until morning they message each other and cry in memory of their daughters: “At night, I look at the sky. I say, my Elham, which star are you? I want to see her one more time and cover her in kisses.”
**“Daddy, I’m here. Sir, don’t take my child away”**
Name: Ilia Khatami. Age: 12. Place of the missile strike: Shahid Naeimi Football Hall in Lamerd: “My wife said, why are you sitting there doing nothing? Why aren’t you doing anything? Give the child breaths. When I gave him two breaths, blood came out of his ear, and I understood that his injury had been serious.”
Many people saw Ilia’s body. Diako’s mother, Amirmohammad Forouzan’s father, Mirsalar Khosravi’s father, Ms Shahabi, and Helma Ahmadizadeh’s mother. But the last person to see him was Amin Khatami, his father: “9 Esfand was my last day of work. I work in Assaluyeh, and after the missile strikes of the war began, they told us to return to our city. From Assaluyeh to Lamerd is about an hour. I got home at 1 p.m. Ilia had been dismissed from school, and we were sitting together watching television. That day I was very anxious and stressed. I could not even speak or connect with Ilia. He said to me: ‘Dad, now that there’s a war and you’re off work, shall we go north?’ I said: ‘Why north? It’s not dangerous here.’ I was fasting and a little weak. I had completely forgotten that Ilia had football that day. He had football class on Saturdays and Tuesdays. I went to sleep and woke up in panic at the first sound of an explosion and rushed into the yard. I looked to the left and saw dust rising. Immediately, the sounds of other explosions came. I shouted, ‘Ya Hossein, Ya Hossein.’ I turned to my wife and said, ‘Where is Ilia?’ She said, ‘Football class.’ His mother had taken him there, and on the way back, the club coach, Mr Mahmoud Najafi, who was himself killed, had taken the hand of his son Amirhesam and told Ilia’s mother to take him home. Their home is in their neighbourhood. She handed Ilia over and took Amirhesam to his mother. The route from home to the club was short, but there was traffic. When I arrived and entered the hall, I saw that the roof of the girls’ covered hall had been damaged. I asked, where are the children from the football class? They said they had been taken to the hospital. A kind person took me to the hospital. My wife stayed there. When I entered the emergency ward, it was very crowded. Small children in sports clothes were here and there. A number were on the floor, and everywhere was full of blood. I saw Ilia in someone’s arms. I went toward him and said, ‘Daddy, I’m here. Sir, don’t take my child away. My child is alive.’ The man did not speak to me; he was only going toward the emergency ward. I said, ‘Put him down right there.’ The man put the child down at the emergency entrance. The emergency ward was very crowded. The floor could not be seen because there was so much blood on it.”
How did you realise Ilia was no longer alive?
I have taken first-aid courses and knew the signs. I understood that he had finished. I left him there. I was by his side for 20 minutes, looking at him in shock and disbelief.
The father continues: “When my wife arrived and saw us, she was terrified. She said, why are you sitting there doing nothing? Why aren’t you doing anything? Give the child breaths. I knew it was useless. I did not dare check his pulse. I started CPR. I gave chest compressions. When I gave him two breaths, blood came out of his ear, and I understood that his injury had been serious.” Elsana, Ilia’s sister, was waiting in the car for her father, mother, and brother when the father went and told her the news that her brother had been killed.
Where had he been injured?
He had been hit by shrapnel in the back of the head. He had bled so much that when I put my face on his face, my face became bloody.
The psychological injuries caused by these events have been very severe. Did anyone help you in this regard?
No. Nothing has been done. And it is truly needed.
The father says: “Ilia wanted to become a footballer. He had been going to football class for five or six years. He loved Cristiano Ronaldo. Once he told me, Dad, do you know why Ronaldo has no tattoos on his body? I said, why? He said, because he wants to donate blood. That was why he had been drawn to him. Ilia was a fan of Esteghlal. He liked Alireza Koushki’s style of play. He said, I want to become the best player at Farhangian Club and a member of Esteghlal’s team. He also played the santur. It is such a pity.”
**“His leg turned black”**
Name: Mirsalar Khosravi. Age: 12. Place of impact: Shahid Naeimi Football Hall in Lamerd: “They scraped the wounds on his leg. They grafted the blood vessels. The tissue in part of the leg was completely necrotic, and the flesh had turned black. Every time he went to the operating room, they scraped away part of the dead tissue. They washed his leg three times a day. Every night they gave him morphine and strong antibiotics.”
Many people saw Mirsalar Khosravi on the football pitch while he was wearing sports shorts and a T-shirt, and the whiteness of his clothes could not be seen because he was so drenched in blood. Mirsalar has been training in football for five years and, according to Abdolsamad Khosravi, was preparing to enter international clubs. But on 9 Esfand, on that same football pitch, he was wounded alongside his classmates. His calf muscles were destroyed, and the blood vessels and nerves in his leg were almost severed.
His father is 49, and Mirsalar and Sanam-Banou are his twin children. He has endured many hardships during this period for his son’s treatment, and he speaks about the day of the explosion: “I was at home when I heard the sound of the explosion. It was past 5. I went to the roof of the house and saw that four missiles hit the city within five or six seconds. The distance from our house to the stadium is two kilometres. I came back into the house and told Mirsalar’s mother and sister that they had hit near the IRGC. I had not remembered at all that Mirsalar had football class. His mother said Mirsalar is there, and then I lost control of myself completely. I did not understand what happened. I got into the car and went. When I arrived, I saw smoke and fire coming out of houses. I stopped the car near the explosion site and went toward the stadium. It was full of smoke there too. Ambulances were in the street, many people had gathered, and there were continuous screams. From 200 metres before the stadium, I began shouting and calling my son’s name. There, they told me that all the children from the football pitch had been transferred to the hospital. Right there, I saw one of his classmates and his mother crying. I quickly got on a motorbike through the crowd and went to the hospital. My hands and feet were not under my control. My tongue was tied. My legs had no strength to move. The first thing I saw there was a pickup truck full of wounded people and lifeless bodies wearing football clothes. A blanket had been thrown over one of the children in the back of the pickup. I thought, what if it is Mirsalar? From the motorbike to the hospital yard was 20 metres, but for me it may have taken an hour to reach the pickup. I pulled the blanket aside and saw that it was not Mirsalar. I went inside the hospital and started searching. There was no room to put my foot on the floor. I tried not to step on the wounded. I went from one room to another. In every room I entered, I could not find him. Until I saw one of his classmates, who was wearing the club uniform. His shirt was red. I went to him and said, where is my Salar? He said: ‘I don’t know. We were in the car together.’ I said, what happened? He said: ‘Blood was coming from him.’ I said, he must be in the operating room. I got myself to the second floor of the hospital. I opened the operating-room door and saw Mirsalar on the bed, and one of the medical staff was stitching his wound. I went closer and saw that his eyes were open. I said, hello, my son. His face had gone white from fear, terror, and blood loss. He was not moving. His eyes were fixed on one point. I said, are you okay? He said, I’m okay. I looked at his leg and saw that he had suffered severe bleeding and that his right heel was in a terrible condition. That was when a large number of the wounded were transferred to the operating room. Everywhere I looked, the beds were full and nurses and doctors were stitching wounds. I sat there on a chair beside my son when a nurse came and said, why are you sitting here? Come and help. We had to move the bodies of those killed. They had been placed next to each other on the floor.”
Mirsalar was not in good condition. He had lost a lot of blood; he quickly returned to the operating room and received a blood transfusion: “At the same time, I saw bodies being transferred to the hospital. Later, when his condition worsened, they said he had to be transferred to Shiraz. We left for Shiraz at 1 a.m. and arrived at 6 in the morning. They immediately took him to the operating room, and he was in surgery for eight hours. They kept him in the ICU for a week. Every day they allowed us to see him for half an hour. He was unconscious for a week. For two months after that, he kept going back to the operating room. They scraped the wounds on his leg. They grafted the blood vessels. The tissue in part of the leg was completely necrotic, and the flesh had turned black. Every time he went to the operating room, they scraped away part of the dead tissue. They washed his leg three times a day. Every night they gave him morphine and strong antibiotics. His mental state was shattered. He was confused and dazed, with low consciousness. Every time they washed his leg, I would put my hand inside his mouth so that he could bite my hand and his teeth would not be damaged. After two months, they carried out a skin graft from his left leg. He is supposed to undergo a bone graft so that the heel can be repaired.” But the father has complaints. He says: “For the expenses, no one told us that we had to go to the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs and take documents. We took documents, and they said a medical commission had to be formed and that it would take five or six months to reach a result. Then they told us that Day Insurance is for the Foundation of Martyrs and has nothing to do with the percentage of disability. It provides coverage immediately, and we went there. Many of those who were wounded still do not know this. During this period, we have spent a lot of money. A physiotherapist comes to the house every day. We spent almost 40 million, of which 16 million was returned to us. Mirsalar needs a private nurse to wash the wound. Each session is almost 1.5 million tomans. He needs artificial skin and special injections and so on. They have not paid for these.” He has one serious demand and wants it to be reported in the media: international legal follow-up. “Based on the Leader’s statements, the damages and blood money of the war-wounded must be taken from the enemy. We ask the Islamic Republic to pursue the rights of the families and their children in the international community, according to the norms of international law. Under international law and in an international court, this issue must be pursued as a war crime. No one is talking about this.”
**Shrapnel the size of peas**
Name: Anita Ghasemi. Age: 10. Place of impact: Shahid Naeimi Volleyball Hall in Lamerd: “Even my shoelaces became bloody. I was going from one room to another, searching for my daughter. I could not find her anywhere. In despair, I went toward the hospital entrance and saw her lying on a chair, with a nurse standing over her. She was in shock.” This past Saturday, the fourth surgery on 10-year-old Anita was performed. She is hospitalised at Namazi Hospital in Shiraz. The shrapnel hit her lower abdomen, causing serious damage to her lower organs and creating a two-centimetre hole. She received around 28 stitches and has gone through a very critical condition.
Her mother is 42 and a teacher. On 9 Esfand, her husband told her there might be a war. But she replied, what war! When she came home from school, unaware of everything, and without knowing what had happened in Minab, she lay down for a while. Anita had a duck and was very attached to it. But that day, when she came home from school, her duck had died for no reason, and Anita was so upset and cried so much that she no longer had any energy. Her mother said, “You don’t need to go to the club today.” But she insisted on going, perhaps so that the grief of losing her duck would ease. She wrapped the duck in a cloth so that when she returned she could bury it. She had cried so much that her eyes were red. Her mother continues: “I took her to the club and went to my brother’s house myself. It was around 5 when the sound of the explosion came. Within four or five seconds, the sounds of missiles came one after another. My brother said they fired missiles. I did not wait. I got into the car and went toward the club. On the way, I kept calling Anita. It rang so much that the call cut off. When I reached the street of the club, it was full of smoke. I saw the wounded in the street; I was terrified. When I got to the club, I saw one of the children. I said, where is Anita? She said, she is safe. But I had a feeling that she was not safe. I saw the father of one of the children and asked him about my daughter. He said she was fine, although he knew what had happened, but seeing my state, he did not want to tell me. Then the mother of one of the children called me and said, don’t be afraid, her leg is wounded and she is at the hospital now. As soon as she said this, the phone fell from my hand and I started crying. I set off again toward the hospital. The corridors were so crowded that it was impossible to find anyone. Everywhere was full of blood. Even my shoelaces became bloody. I was going from one room to another, searching for my daughter. I could not find her anywhere. In despair, I went toward the hospital entrance and saw her lying on a chair, with a nurse standing over her. She was in shock. She just looked at me and said nothing. I had started crying. The woman beside her had thrown her chador over Anita. She told me, don’t be afraid, God willing she will get better. Then they put her on a bed. She had bled severely.”
How had she been transferred to the hospital?
Later, she herself said that when she was wounded, a soldier picked her up and put her inside a car.
The mother continues: “The shrapnel pieces were the size of a pea and could be seen inside her body. Later, these same pieces of shrapnel became the source of infection for some of the wounded; for example, one or two months later. Apparently, they were contaminated with toxins that would become apparent after some time. There is still shrapnel inside Anita’s thigh, but they have not removed it. She keeps saying it itches. Sometimes the area around it turns red.”
The mother recounts: “The shrapnel pieces were hot and caused burns to her tissue. She was hospitalised in the ICU for a while, to the point that we could not visit her at all because they said there was a risk of infection. Her abdomen was open, and even now her rectum is externalised. The tissue has to be repaired so that they can return the intestine. Her treatment is still ongoing.” The mother says the medical costs were free, except in one case when, because of the high expenses, they paid around 3,700,000 tomans. They went to Shiraz for treatment, rented a house, and began the treatment process. The mother continues: “The issue is not just hospital costs. Nursing costs must also be added to that. Besides this, Anita was in very severe pain throughout this period. She would scream and I would cry. She had a fever and the fever would not stop. We were worried. They said this fever was viral; it would constantly go down and then come back again.” At first, they had been told that this intestine outside the body would have to remain there for the rest of her life, but at the last visit, the doctor gave them hope that it might be possible to return the intestine inside: “My daughter was very sensitive about her body. We thank God that Anita is alive, but this period has been very difficult for us. She now has bags attached for urine and stool.” Anita’s injuries, however, are not limited to her lower organs. One piece of shrapnel hit her right leg and created a cavity. During this period, her friends have come to visit her and brought her volleyballs. Now she has many volleyballs. Despite all this, her mother is not well, and the suffering she has endured during this period has been beyond her capacity. She says she cannot sleep at night and that the sound of missiles is constantly in her head.
**“Daddy, when will I play football again?”**
Name: Amirmohammad Forouzan. Age: 11. Place of impact: Shahid Naeimi Football Hall in Lamerd: “It was like the Day of Judgment. Children in sports clothes had fallen on the ground and were covered in blood. Some were fleeing. Some had been killed, and some were being carried in people’s arms. I saw Amirmohammad right there, while someone was carrying him.”
Amirmohammad is one of the 38 students of Mahmoud Najafi who has been confined to the house since 9 Esfand. The muscle of his right shoulder above the chest, along with the calf of his right leg, was hit by shrapnel. His father reached the stadium exactly three minutes after the missile strike. He put a number of wounded children into cars with his own hands and took them to the city’s only hospital. On 9 Esfand last year, Amirmohammad had gone to the football pitch by bicycle, and his bicycle was brought back home only a few days ago. The football class session was for the age group of 9 to 11. It began at 4:30 and was supposed to last until 6. The girls’ volleyball class also began around the same time, and all of them were young. That day was Amirmohammad’s fourth session in that football class.
His father is 40 and recounts: “I had just come out of the shower and was lying on the sofa when I heard the first sound of an explosion. Before that, the families had contacted the stadium and found out that it was not closed and that the classes were going ahead. That was why Amirmohammad had gone to the stadium on his bicycle. When the sound of the missile came, at first we thought there had been an earthquake. I did not realise it was a missile strike. My wife is in charge of one of the sections of the city hospital, and then we thought perhaps they had hit the hospital. At the same time, the next three missiles were fired. It may have taken less than 35 seconds. When I saw the missile smoke, I said: ‘Oh no, they hit the hall.’ Because the smoke was on the side of the hall; it was brown. The missiles exploded over the buildings.” The area struck by the missiles is full of pellets; everything has been pierced. Cars, buildings, roofs. Bodies. One of the cars was parked around 800 metres away from the area, but the shrapnel had reached its roof and riddled it with holes. Some pieces of shrapnel passed through the car roof, exited through the floor, and reached the asphalt: “With this level of force, what did it do to people’s bodies?” The neighbourhood hit by the missiles is called Eisar residential neighbourhood. Across from it is the nursing university; to the right is the city council hall, then the post office and a blood transfusion centre. There is also a university and a dental clinic in the same area. Behind these buildings there is a language institute, a kindergarten, and a girls’ primary school. Above this complex is the residential neighbourhood, which has shops and is a residential area. One of the missiles hit that side. One of the residents of those houses was a nurse on whose home the missile fell and who was killed. Of these four missiles, three struck the residential area, one of them hitting Shahid Naeimi Sports Hall and football pitch. They saw the missiles explode in the sky.
What did you see the moment you entered the sports hall?
It was like the Day of Judgment. Children in sports clothes had fallen on the ground and were covered in blood. Some were fleeing. Some had been killed, and some were being carried in people’s arms. I saw Amirmohammad right there, while someone was carrying him.
The father continues: “My son Amirmohammad was the fourth child I found. I was walking and saying, Ya Fatemeh Zahra, let my child be alive. Ya Hazrat Zeinab. Let whatever happens happen, just let my child be alive. At that moment, I did not know what I was doing. I was only trying to save the children’s lives when I saw Amirmohammad. Everyone who came out of the hall had been hit by shrapnel from several sides. The street was full of people.” There was a pickup truck in front of the stadium entrance transferring the wounded to the hospital, an image reminiscent of the frontlines and the transfer of soldiers.
Where did you find Amirmohammad?
He was sitting by the fences. Next to the football pitch there is an asphalt pitch. I lifted him up and saw that something was hanging from his leg. He only looked directly into my eyes. That day, I took around 10 wounded people to the hospital myself.
Amirmohammad told his father that after the first missile, their coach, Mr Najafi, gathered them together and asked them to lie down in the middle of the pitch. When the second missile hit, it exploded behind them, and the fourth missile passed over the hall and struck the right side. There is still shrapnel in the right side of his chest, but the doctor says it should not be touched for now. His father confirms that the shrapnel from the fired missiles was contaminated; the evidence, he says, is the infections Amirmohammad later developed: “My son was hospitalised again almost 24 days after the explosion. This time, he had an infection. Before that, he had gone to the operating room twice, and they had scraped away the upper layers of flesh on his leg that had become infected. The infection in his body would not clear even with the strongest antibiotics. Four to five centimetres of layers of flesh had been removed. We have even heard that among the wounded, two people had amputations, caused by infection after being hit by shrapnel.” Amirmohammad’s father, citing what has appeared in the media, says that these missiles poured hundreds of thousands of pellets down on people: small and large pellets that entered residents’ bodies, took lives, and wounded many. All of this while, according to him, the sports hall is 50 or 60 metres. Amirmohammad’s father insists that the shrapnel pieces must be removed because he is worried about infections. They have returned to Lamerd to continue treatment, and every day his wound is washed and dressed. But despite all the care, the wound became infected, and according to his father, brown infection the size of a tennis ball came out of his leg. No one had ever seen anything like it. All of these treatments were accompanied by Amirmohammad’s screams and cries because he was in so much pain. He had heard of another example of wound infection from Mr Akbarnejad, another one of the wounded, who had been transferred with them to Namazi Hospital in Shiraz. He too developed a fever after being discharged from the hospital, and when he returned, they realised that he had an infection. The infection was so severe that they were forced to amputate his leg. When the father reaches this part, he begins to cry. During this period, they have been under immense psychological pressure.
He has many complaints about the authorities: “During this period, the governor of Fars has not even come to visit these children. He has not come to see what has happened in the area. After it became public in the media, a few officials came. The whole city has suffered psychological injury. Psychologists and psychiatrists must come to the aid of the people of this city. To the aid of the wounded and the families of those killed. My child is frightened by the slightest things. At night he wakes from sleep and cries, he screams. If someone closes the door of a room forcefully, he becomes terrified. When we were in the hospital, he was afraid of the sound of trolley wheels. He thought it was a fighter jet.”
No one knows when Amirmohammad’s leg will return. One doctor says one year; another says perhaps longer: “My child asks, ‘Daddy, when will I be able to play football again?’ He wants to ride his bicycle again.”
Amirmohammad was wounded in several places. In addition to his upper body, a piece of shrapnel hit his right leg and exited from the side. His father says flesh the size of the sole of his foot was removed, and that it severed the blood vessels, nerves, and tendons. This critical condition led to Amirmohammad being transferred to Namazi Hospital in Shiraz. In Lamerd, doctors were only able to close the main arteries so that he could be transferred to Shiraz. There, the family was told that if he remained in that state, his leg would have to be amputated within three or four hours. In the ambulance, alongside Amirmohammad, were Mirsalar Khosravi, another child named Amirhossein, and several others. Amirhossein’s mother had been killed under the missile strike, and his two sisters had been hit by shrapnel. He was a six-year-old child. Another person was with them, a man named Mr Akbarnejad, who had also been wounded from below the pelvis and in the right leg, and they later learned that he had undergone an amputation. This group was transferred on the first night. After them, there were other groups, some of whom were killed. According to the father, 17 people were killed in the first moments, and later the number rose to 21. They were those who died after being transferred to the hospital and during the course of treatment. More than 50 people were also wounded.
Amirmohammad recounts in his own words, but because of his young age, general questions were asked so that he would not give details and would not have to recall memories: “When the missile hit, the coach said everyone lie down on the ground. When the next missiles hit, I saw several people fall to the ground, and blood was coming from my own leg. That was when I lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, I was in front of the hall entrance.” 9 Esfand last year was the fourth day Amirmohammad had gone to the football pitch, but now, because of the severity of his injuries, he cannot walk. He had seen his classmates being killed, like Abdolmossavver and Ilia.
**“I did not see blood on his body”**
Name: Mahmoud Najafi. Age: 37. Football coach at the Shahid Naeimi Cultural and Sports Complex. Place of missile impact: the stadium’s football pitch: “I was screaming, crying. Then they took me to the morgue. I saw him there. Above his right eyebrow was bruised. I touched his face. His shoulders were bruised. The shrapnel had pierced his lungs; it had also hit his side and upper chest. But I did not see blood on his body.”
Zeinab Delnavaz is the wife of 37-year-old Mahmoud Najafi. He was born on 13 Esfand and was buried on the very night of his birthday. Mahmoud was the football coach for the children at Shahid Naeimi Stadium, and that day at 5 p.m. was the last time he spoke to his wife, leaving Zeinab and his nine-year-old son Amirhesam behind. Zeinab knows the exact time of the explosion: 17:12. Amirhesam had gone to the club with his father that day. At that hour, the session was for children aged 9 to 11. Thirty-eight students were present in the class. Mahmoud was fasting, and Amirhesam was bothering him; he had decided to send him home. Ilia’s mother, who had gone to drop off her child for class, returned with Najafi’s child and handed him over to his mother. Zeinab says that when she heard the first explosion, she called her husband, but the line was busy. Later, when she checked his mobile phone, she saw that at that moment Mahmoud had been speaking with emergency services. She immediately got into the car and drove toward the stadium. At the same time, she also started calling Mahmoud’s students. She called several of them. Some of the children had returned home and had said that the situation was critical, that a missile had hit and many people had been wounded. The children told her that the coach was helping the children: “The children were telling me, Auntie, nothing had happened to him. He was fine, running and helping the children. In my heart I said, thank God. Another one of them said that Ilia had been killed. I beat my head. I said, which Ilia? They said Ilia Khatami. From there I found out that everyone had been taken to the hospital. I went toward the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital, I stayed in the car. My sister and her husband came and went inside. Our son-in-law had arrived earlier. He had understood that Mahmoud was no longer alive, but he said nothing. Apparently, however much they had resuscitated him, he had not come back. I was beside myself. Suddenly my sister came, took my face between her hands, and said Mahmoud had been killed.”
What was your reaction?
I could not believe it. I was screaming and crying. Then they took me to the morgue. I saw him there. Above his right eyebrow was bruised. I touched his face; there was a smile on it. His shoulders were bruised. The shrapnel had pierced his lungs; it had also hit his side and upper chest. But I did not see blood on his body. His face looked like someone who had suffered pain.
For Muharram, they have set up a mourning station for Mahmoud and put a large photograph of him on a banner. One night, Amirhesam slept on the banner, with his arm around his father’s neck: “My son says, I miss the smell of my daddy’s hair. He has an audio file of his father and keeps listening to it. They have told him your father was such a good man that God bought him and took him away. He says, I want to save my money and buy Daddy back from God.” Zeinab and Mahmoud were university classmates. They had studied physical education and had married 15 years ago. Zeinab says: “I keep dreaming of Mahmoud. My nine-year-old son, Mahmoud, and I were always together. Now we have been separated.”
**“We were only stopping the bleeding”**
Name: Sohrab Sharifi. General surgeon at Haj Mahmoud Haj Heydar Hospital: “Let me tell you that every operation we performed involved contamination. The point is that every piece of shrapnel has an entry point and an exit point. The shrapnel acted exactly like bullets and caused extremely severe injuries.”
The images that Sohrab Sharifi, a general surgeon, saw from 5:30 p.m. on 9 Esfand will never leave his sight; like the man who was performing cardiac resuscitation on the lifeless body of his loved one and wanted to bring him back into the world, or the image of... Sharifi is a modest doctor and says he does not particularly want his name mentioned, because whatever he did, he did for his patients.
What did you see on 9 Esfand?
The scenes we saw were very painful. I studied and worked in Shiraz. The hospitals there are crowded, and people come from all over Iran for treatment. But what I saw on 9 Esfand, I had never seen anything like it.
Sharifi recounts: “The entire medical staff were working and crying. The situation was very bad, very difficult. Among all those who had been transferred, except for one or two people who were in their fifties, the rest were all under 24. The weapon used in Lamerd was also unconventional, meaning it was destructive rather than explosive. It had come for human casualties, not to destroy a building or a place. Each of the missiles had turned entirely into shrapnel and entered people’s bodies. Each piece was the size of a 10-toman coin.”
Was the contamination of these shrapnel pieces and pellets established for you?
I do not know what these shrapnel pieces were or what they were contaminated with, but I heard a great deal that the wound sites had become infected. One of these children was Abdolmossavver Rahmani, an Afghan child who had been hit by shrapnel in the back of his neck. No matter what antibiotics we injected into him, it was useless. Anything you can imagine. He had a fever and did not respond to any medication. We gave antipyretics; it was useless. We gave anti-infection medication; it was useless. I did everything I could so that this child would not be lost, but it had no result.
So Abdolmossavver was alive when he was transferred to the hospital?
Yes, he was alive for 72 hours. We performed three major operations on him, but in the end we could not find the source of the infection. A tear in the oesophagus can cause such an infection, but I freed the oesophagus and searched, and the oesophagus was intact.
The doctor continues: “In the best and most equipped hospitals in the world, an oesophageal tear and the infection caused by it has a 75 percent mortality rate, meaning it is fatal. Therefore, the only thing that could cause such an infection was an oesophageal tear. But Abdolmossavver’s oesophagus was intact. Alongside him, there was another female patient who was struggling with infection for about a month. A woman named Zahra or Fatemeh Gholami lost her life because of this infection. In general, let me tell you that every operation we performed involved contamination. The point is that every piece of shrapnel has an entry point and an exit point. The shrapnel acted exactly like bullets and caused extremely severe injuries.” Dr Sharifi’s shift began on the morning of 9 Esfand. Before the sounds of explosions were heard, Dr Sharifi had been in the operating room. He had returned to the on-call residence inside the hospital grounds and was watching the news when he heard the sound of the explosion. From there, he moved toward the hospital — Haj Mahmoud Haj Heydar Hospital. The distance from where he lived inside the hospital compound to the hospital itself was about 200 or 300 metres. He knew he had to return to the operating room. In the residence, he put on his operating-room gown; five minutes later, he got himself to the hospital, but in that short interval so many wounded people had been transferred to the hospital that there was no room to walk. The situation was so severe that he imagined perhaps ground forces were going to enter the city: “Lamerd is a very small city. So small that the wounded had reached the hospital before I did. No one imagined that anyone would want to hit Lamerd, use a new weapon against this small city, and cause casualties on that scale.”
Do you remember how many people you examined?
I do not remember at all. But I clearly remember that many people had been hit by shrapnel.
He continues: “One person was a transplant patient of mine. I had performed a kidney transplant on him, and the shrapnel had hit exactly that kidney. Later I found out he had gone to another city for treatment. Or a little girl who had been hit by shrapnel in the front of her neck — I was following her treatment until I found out she had continued her treatment somewhere else. We had many such cases, but I do not have statistics.” He has a world of memories from that day, like the 30- or 35-year-old young man whose loved one had been lost but who was still giving him chest compressions. Or, for example, Helma’s mother, who was extremely distraught and has not come directly during this period, but has sent people to ask exactly what treatment had been performed for her that day, or what else could have been done for her so that she would have survived: “On the first day, we were only stopping the bleeding. That is, our focus was on life-threatening injuries. Until the following night, meaning 10 Esfand, we worked continuously and did not leave the operating room. I examined and operated on many people, but I do not remember their names. I am still involved in the continued treatment of the wounded. Some of these wounded people have become disabled.”
**The hospital floor could not be seen**
Name: Rahimeh Shahabi. Age: 45. Volleyball coach at Shahid Naeimi Stadium in Lamerd: “I had lifted him a little, but he had lost a lot of blood. I do not know where the shrapnel had hit. But his body was full of blood. I told him, don’t be afraid, it’s nothing. They will come to help us now. Abdolmossavver was 11 years old. Later I found out that he had died.” Rahimeh Shahabi is the volleyball coach who, on 9 Esfand last year, was training with her students in the volleyball hall when she heard the sound of the missile. Twenty-six of her students were there, including Elham, Helma, Anita, Sara, Aysa, and Zeinab. They were on the underage girls’ volleyball team. The class began at 4 and was supposed to end at 5:30, but 18 minutes earlier, the missiles ended the class: “At exactly 5:10, I gathered the children in the middle of the volleyball court and was teaching a new exercise when the sound of the explosion came. The sound was terrifying. The frightened girls were screaming and running toward the exit door. We did not even know where the sound had come from. Eisar residential neighbourhood is directly opposite the stadium. A missile had hit there, and smoke and fire had risen over it. A small number of the girls had come out with us. But most of them were still in the hall.”
Why had they stayed in the hall? Were they frightened?
No. When they wanted to come out, another missile hit, and they stayed there. They did not know what they should do.
The coach continues: “The next time, they hit the hall. The children were screaming, and for a moment everywhere went dark. We could not see anything. We could only hear the sound of debris falling. I felt that the hall was collapsing. I just kept shouting, children, children, get out. I pushed them with my hands, hit them on the back so they would go outside. I guided the children toward the dirt field so that they would at least get away from there. Everyone who had been hit by shrapnel and wounded had fallen. I also saw Mr Najafi, the football coach, lying on the ground. Another one of his students had also been killed. It was a very strange situation. All that could be heard was screaming. My sister and I, who is also my colleague, went one by one to the children. We had no idea what we could do. The families arrived very quickly.” Ms Shahabi had also seen Abdolmossavver Rahmani, the Afghan child, lying on the ground drenched in blood. One of the children shouted: “Ma’am, help. Help.” The coach went toward her. Elham Zaeri was lying on the ground: “I could not lift her. My hand had been hit by shrapnel and I had no strength. Then her brother arrived, and together we brought her to the entrance of the hall. I was still in front of the hall entrance when I saw Helma. She came out of the hall toward me, lifted her clothes, showed me her chest, and said, Ma’am, I’m here, look at me, see, nothing has happened. I said, Helma, what are you doing here? I pulled her clothes back down. I said, go toward the dirt field.”
How long did all of this take?
I do not know, maybe 30 seconds. Four missiles hit within that time.
Tell us a little about Abdolmossavver. Was he still alive when you reached him?
Yes. I told him, can you get up? I had lifted him a little, but he had lost a lot of blood. I do not know where the shrapnel had hit. But his body was full of blood. I told him, don’t be afraid, it’s nothing. They will come to help us now. Abdolmossavver was 11 years old. Later I found out that he had died.
Many mothers and fathers who were looking for their children saw Abdolmossavver Rahmani — though they saw his lifeless body, lying on the red ground; red with blood. Abdolmossavver had fallen beside the football pitch. He was an Afghan child who, apparently after this incident, was taken to Afghanistan at his grandmother’s insistence, so that he could be buried there beside his loved ones, in his homeland.
Did you see Ilia too? Ilia Khatami.
Yes. I went to Ilia’s side. I also saw Mr Najafi. I shook him. I felt he was alive. A sound was coming from his throat. I shouted that they should take him to the hospital quickly. They took him to the hospital by car, but unfortunately he had been killed.
Rahimeh Shahabi has 20 years of work experience. She began working as a volleyball coach in 1384.
Were you aware of the war? Did no one say the classes should be cancelled?
We knew. The government had announced that schools and universities were closed, but no one had spoken about public and sports facilities. Beforehand, I asked the hall manager whether we were open or not. They said all the cultural complexes of the county were active.
How many people from your team were wounded?
Five. Aysa Safari, Nahal Vaseghi, Anita Ghasemi, Zeinab Malekfar, and Sara Tork Laleh-Bagh.
The coach continues: “After the children were transferred to the hospital, my sister and I went toward the hospital. We saw very bitter scenes. The ceramic tiles of the hospital floor could not be seen. Their white colour had become bloody. Everywhere was red. We were going from one room to another, looking for the children. Lamerd has only one hospital, and everyone had been brought there. Most of the shrapnel had hit the children on the right side. I do not know why. Perhaps because the missile was on that side, or because the children were fleeing when the shrapnel hit them, since the exit door was on their right. Some of the hits were to the legs, some to the hands and neck, and some to the head and chest.” Shrapnel also entered Ms Shahabi’s right hand. Sometimes the area around it becomes red and itchy. This condition repeats every week or 10 days. Her sister, who was also in the same hall, was injured in the face and neck. Ms Shahabi says classes are supposed to resume, though not at Shahid Naeimi Stadium: “Throughout this entire period, I have not touched a ball. We are constantly thinking about the children. Since that incident, I have not slept comfortably at all. I am always stressed and I have nightmares about the sports hall. Those exact same scenes repeat in my sleep, and I wake up stressed.” She says a group from the Welfare Organisation came to the hospital to provide psychological support, gave them their numbers, and said that if they had any problems, they should call and they would send a team.
**The index finger was left behind**
Name: Sara Tork Laleh-Bagh. Age: 11. Place of impact: Shahid Naeimi Volleyball Hall in Lamerd: “At the moment of the missile strike, Sara’s mobile phone was in her right hand, and the shrapnel hit that same hand. The phone burned completely and cut off her index finger.”
Sara Tork Laleh-Bagh is one of the wounded girls and one of Ms Shahabi’s students. Sara’s family has gone to Gorgan to continue their daughter’s treatment. They are originally from Gorgan, and staying close to family has made conditions easier for them. Eleven-year-old Sara has lost the index finger of her right hand. They performed a graft for her, but it was not successful. Doctors have said that perhaps in the future they may be able to graft one of her toes for her. The last surgery performed on her was for her leg. The main artery of her right leg was damaged in the Lamerd missile attack in the sports hall; it was torn and blood collected under her skin. She was hospitalised in Lamerd Hospital for one week. Then she was transferred to Mousavi Hospital in Gorgan. Now Sara’s right leg is bandaged, and she cannot walk. She has attended two or three physiotherapy sessions and has to continue. Her father explains to *Shargh* that at the moment of the missile strike, Sara’s mobile phone was in her right hand, and the shrapnel hit that same hand. The phone burned completely and cut off her index finger: “At that hour, I was waiting for her class to end. I saw the first missile hit; a little later they fired the second and third missiles as well. I was standing there in panic when I saw Sara coming toward the door, limping. She got herself to the entrance. I picked her up and took her to the hospital. But the condition of the hospital was very bad. I saw strange scenes. I was almost the first person to arrive at the site.” Sara had enrolled in volleyball class two or three months earlier. Now that she has lost a finger, she has told her father that she wants to change her sport.
How is she now?
You would not believe me if I told you that from that day until now, we have not had a single good day.
**We witnessed unbelievable scenes**
Name: Diako Tarafdar. Age: 11. One of the football students at Shahid Naeimi Stadium in Lamerd: “I kept calling Diako’s name. I was searching for him and imagined that the next child I would find drenched in blood would be Diako. I saw several other children in that condition too. I also saw Abdolmossavver and Ilia lying on the ground. My knees had no strength.”
Diako was another one of Mr Najafi’s students. His body was hit by a small piece of shrapnel. He was taken to the hospital and underwent ultrasound and CT scan examinations. Jaleh, his mother, was the first person to get herself to the stadium on 9 Esfand: “We are fine, but our psychological and emotional condition is not fine at all, and we saw scenes that were unbelievable.”
The mother sometimes takes Diako to Mirsalar’s house so they can play together and watch football. Sometimes Diako stays there as well. They are close friends: “I let him stay beside him for a night or two.” They have left Lamerd and gone to Shiraz. The mother says she cannot return to Lamerd at all. She is 39, and Diako is her only child: “On 9 Esfand, I had a doctor’s appointment. The clinic was a little distance from the stadium. I went and took my turn. The internet was cut off, and they gave us the visit slip by hand. I was still there when the sound of the explosion rose. I ran toward the clinic veranda and saw that they had hit Eisar residential neighbourhood. At first we thought they were testing the air defences, but I did not listen and quickly got myself to the stadium. During this time, four missiles exploded. I reached the club in the very first moment. Diako had class until six. The closer I got, the more smoke I saw. I could not believe that they had fired missiles at the place where my child was playing. As soon as I reached the club, I saw Mirsalar lying on the ground, drenched in blood. I kept calling Diako’s name. I was searching for him and imagined that the next child I would find drenched in blood would be Diako. I saw several other children in that condition too. I also saw Abdolmossavver and Ilia lying on the ground. My knees had no strength. I truly saw terrifying scenes that I had never imagined in these 39 years of my life. They told me the children had been taken to the hospital by ambulance. I turned around and saw that they had taken Salar away.”
How did you find Diako?
After a little while, I saw the mother of one of the children holding Diako’s hand. She called me: Jaleh, Jaleh, Diako. I ran toward them. My child had been hit by a small piece of shrapnel in the chest. But he did not tell us, and at night, when he lifted his shirt, I saw the shrapnel.
The mother continues: “His father scraped the shrapnel with his fingernail and something came out. It was a very small black metallic object. He had several other pieces of shrapnel like that too. God had mercy on us that it was only these. We took him to the hospital. He was checked, they performed ultrasound scans of his whole body, and a CT scan of his chest was done. Diako constantly wants to tell everyone the story of that day. But his mother tries to stop him. Others ask him questions, and he explains in detail, and the memory comes back to him. He saw everything: ‘He witnessed painful scenes, like the girl whose heart was hit by shrapnel, or those who had fallen on the ground and died.’ Now his condition is such that when he hears the sound of the elevator, he puts his hand over his head and shouts: ‘Oh no, they hit us.’”
Helma Ahmadizadeh, Elham Zaeri, Ilia Khatami, Amirmohammad Forouzan, Anita Ghasemi, Mirsalar Khosravi, and others — children who each entered the hall in sports clothes and with the dream of continuing practice, and whose paths in life changed within a few seconds. Fathers still have not forgotten the scene at the hospital; mothers run from one room to another in their dreams; coaches still hear the screams in the hall... The names are repeated in the accounts, but each time with a silence heavier than before. What remains is not only the memory of one day, but a collection of names that are no longer called out on the playing field, yet are still alive in homes, minds, and accounts.