Iranian judiciary chief orders probe into bus crash that killed 26 schoolgirls

TEHRAN, Oct. 21 (MNA) -- The heads of the three branches of Iran’s government issued separate messages on Saturday expressing condolences to the families of the victims of a bus crash that claimed the lives of 26 schoolgirls in southwest Iran on Friday night. Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani has ordered the head of the Khuzestan Province Court of Justice to immediately launch an investigation into the incident. The bus transporting the schoolgirls overturned on the Izeh-Lordegan road, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) southwest of Tehran. Nineteen students were also injured in the tragic accident. According to police accounts, the driver was speeding in rainy weather and lost control of the bus. In his message, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani said it is necessary to discover all the details of the bus crash and if there was any violation of the law, the people responsible should be held accountable in a court of law. The students were from the city of Boroujen, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. They were visiting the scenes of battles on the front line of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. Such visits, known as rahian nour (travelers of light) trips, are made to preserve the memory of the soldiers martyred on the war fronts. Education Minister Hamid Reza Hajibabaii has been asked to attend a session of the Majlis Education and Research Committee on Sunday (today) to explain the details about student tours and the facts about Friday’s deadly crash, MP Mohammad Mahdi Zahedi, the chairman of the Majlis Education and Research Committee, said on Saturday.