Hamed Pari_taghiNejad

Their story

Around 11:10 AM on the 9th of Esfand (February 28th), the teacher of Hamed and Hani—Mandana Salari, who was herself killed in the attack—contacted their families and stated that due to wartime conditions, the school was closing and they needed to come to the school to pick up the children. The father of 7-year-old Hamed and 11-year-old Hani was not far from the school and set out about 10 minutes after the call; he recounts that while on his way, he suddenly heard the sound of an explosion.

He reached the school very quickly. According to him, in the initial moments, only families and a number of civilians were present, and the first scene he witnessed was half of the school destroyed, the upper floor ablaze, children covered in blood in the arms of their families and bystanders, and severed body parts of children scattered about. The missile had struck exactly where the classrooms of Hamed and Hani were located. Their classrooms were opposite each other, and the missile had landed on these two classrooms, causing total destruction.

From the very beginning, as the bodies of the children were being removed in body bags, the father of these two students checked the bags one by one. There was no news until evening, when he was contacted and told to go to the hospital to identify some remains. He identified Hamed there. Hamed's body was nearly intact but had suffered asphyxiation under the rubble. Several other students were taken by ambulance to a cold storage facility in the Tiab region, 25 kilometers from Minab. This facility was not intended for human remains; it was an industrial cold storage unit, and because the capacity of the Minab morgue had been exhausted, the bodies were transferred there. For three days, the father was unable to find Hani's body among the others. Finally, about three days later, Hani's mother was able to find Hani's foot among the fragmented remains.

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Their family

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Sources and documentation