More than 400 people have been killed by smog in under a month after a lethal blanket of pollution smothered the capital of Iran, it has emerged.

Schools have been shut while millions have been forced to wear face masks or retreat indoors after choking levels of pollution descended on Tehran.

As many as 412 citizens have died in the past 23 days and authorities have rolled out a series of unprecedented emergency measures.

More than 400 people have been killed by smog in under a month after a lethal blanket of pollution smothered the capital of Iran, it has emerged

Exhaust fumes from millions of cars and motorcycles that ply Tehran's roads account for 80 percent of its pollution, which increases in winter as emissions fail to rise above cold air

All of the city's schools were due to have been shut today while tourism bosses have even apologised to foreign visitors for the pollution.

A blanket of brown-white smog descended on the capital on Sunday, blocking views of the mountains that line its northern edge and forcing many of its 14 million residents to stay indoors.

The pollution in Tehran hit 156 on the Air Quality Index of deadly airborne particles, over the 150 considered 'unhealthy' for the general public. In tourist hotspot Isfahan the level hit 167.

Officials apologised to foreign visitors for the bleak conditions.

'We hope our people's hospitality wipes the grey image of Tehran's beautiful attractions from their minds,' the capital's tourism boss Rajab Ali Khosroabadi told the ISNA news agency.

Kindergartens and primary schools in Tehran were ordered to stay closed Monday and Tuesday, and traffic restrictions were tightened.

A blanket of brown-white smog descended on the capital on Sunday, blocking views of the mountains that line its northern edge and forcing many of its 14 million residents to stay indoors

Schools have been shut while millions have been forced to wear face masks or retreat indoors after choking levels of pollution descended on Tehran

Ambulances were deployed to wait in the busiest and dirtiest areas amid warnings that children, the elderly and those with existing health conditions were at particular risk.

'Since no one does anything, every year the problem gets worse. The government should block old cars. We must improve public transport,' Zeynab Nazari, a first-year sociology student, told AFP.

Every year, Tehran suffers some of the worst pollution in the world when cool autumn temperatures cause an effect known as 'temperature inversion'.

The phenomenon creates a layer of warm air above the city that traps pollution from some 10 million cars and motorbikes.

The latest smog cloud is expected to hang over the city until today when forecasters hope winds will move the stagnant air, an official told state television.

Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf rode the metro to work Sunday in a bid to encourage people to use public transport.

The pollution in Tehran hit 156 on the Air Quality Index of deadly airborne particles, over the 150 considered 'unhealthy' for the general public. In tourist hotspot Isfahan the level hit 167

The phenomenon creates a layer of warm air above the city that traps pollution from some 10 million cars and motorbikes

Despite having around 100 stations, Ghalibaf says the metro is not sufficiently funded by central government, forcing millions to rely on cars.

Pollution has become a political football in recent years, with conservatives and reformists blaming each other for the problem.

Hardliners accuse reformist vice-president Massoumeh Ebtekar, who heads the environmental protection agency, of not doing enough.

Ultra-conservative daily Vatane Emrooz said Monday that 70 percent of deaths in Tehran were linked to pollution.

Ebtekar, in an Instagram post, said various measures to reduce factory pollution and provide cleaner petrol had led to 'significant' improvement.

Still, weather conditions and heavy congestion remain a blight.

Two traffic restriction zones -- introduced in 1979 and 2005 -- have done little to solve the problem.

Local carmakers have been reluctant to introduce cleaner engines, while foreign firms have been kept out by international sanctions.

In 2014, almost 400 people were hospitalised with heart and respiratory problems caused by pollution in Tehran. Nearly 1,500 others required treatment. </s> Hundreds of deaths are being blamed on the thick, hazy smog that has choked Iran's capital this month, as Iranian officials scramble for solutions to the city's ever-growing pollution crisis.

It's so severe that Iran's Supreme Leader has even weighed in, calling on Iranians to stop driving their personal vehicles during days when pollution levels are high.

Smog isn't unusual in Tehran, particularly at this time of the year. The city is surrounded by mountains and suffers from chronic traffic jams, with low rainfall and a lack of strong wind streams. As a result, the city's landscape acts as a sort of funnel, with heavy emissions from millions of vehicles unable to escape the city.

The result is a choking, thick haze that blankets the city, often obscuring the city's prominent landmarks. Although Tehran's air pollution is common, this week, Iranian officials have issued a series of dire warnings, suggesting the crisis is far worse than any the city has previously faced.

In a story carried by Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency, a local city council member Habib Kashani said that poor air quality was a factor in four hundred deaths occurred in the city in roughly the last three weeks. In an emergency response, Tehran's schools were closed on Tuesday and Wednesday, keeping children at home in an attempt to lower the number of vehicles on the streets. Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that air quality has been at dangerous levels in four of the last six days for anyone with pre-existing breathing conditions. An Iranian motorcyclist even posted a photo on Instagram wearing his biker's helmet and a gas mask, with the caption "My city is better than yours, my air better than yours." He added an emoji of gas masks. My city, is better than yours, it's air, is better than yours 😷 ____________________________________ #mycity #tehran #tehranpic #beautifulday #pollution #air #wonderfulplaces #amazing #weather #headache #yolo #getoutside #go #fun #picoftheday #instadaily #mood #instamood #ig_mood #ig_today #pictures #photo #photooftheday #instagood #igersdaily #mask #o #selfie On Wednesday, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani addressed the pollution concerns directly in a speech in the country's mountainous Alborz province. In comments carried by Iran's Mehr News Agency, he said his government had "issued relevant orders for necessary decisions to be taken immediately" and that more than eight hundred thousand older vehicles had been taken off Iran's traffic-clogged streets in the past three years. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's own website even has a section on Islamic rulings that have to do with heavy pollution. They come in the form of answers to questions about the best way ordinary Iranians should deal with pollution in the country's capital. In one response, he discouraged his religious followers from driving a high-emissions vehicle that could worsen air pollution. A second question asked: "What is the verdict for using personal transportation rather than public transportation during times when the city's air is pollution?" The response said that in an emergency situation, when adding more cars to the roads would worsen the pollution, driving a personal vehicle would be tantamount to committing "a forbidden act." "Therefore, if officials ask people to not use their personal vehicles," it said, "that (request) should be heeded. </s> At this time of the year, citizens of Tehran are accustomed to a thick curtain of fog that falls across the city, veiling everything from the 435 metre-tall Milad tower to the nearby Alborz mountains.

This week, however, the blanket of smog smothering the Iranian capital has been blamed for a string of deaths and prompted unprecedented emergency measures by the city’s authorities.

Habib Kashani, a member of Tehran’s municipal council, said on Tuesday that pollution in Tehran had led to the death of 412 citizens in the past 23 days, according to the state news agency, Irna.

City authorities announced that all schools would be closed on Wednesday.

The concentration of ultra-fine airborne particles (known as PM2.5) reached more than 150 this week, setting a new record. These particles of less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter can penetrate the lungs and pass into the bloodstream and have been linked to increased rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease.

Irna reported that on four of the past six days, air quality reached dangerous levels for people suffering from respiratory diseases, and on two days it was dangerous for everyone.

PM2.5 levels are seen as the best measure of the impact of air pollution on health. The new World Health Organisation database of worldwide air pollution measures, released in May, put the Iranian city of Zabol, on the eastern border with Afghanistan, as the world’s most polluted city, based on PM2.5.



Pollution is a perennial problem in Tehran, which is surrounded by mountains and has little wind to disperse the smog. Millions of cars throng the city’s congested streets, and locally refined petrol has also been blamed as a key polluting factor.

The issue dominated newspaper front pages in Tehran on Tuesday. Ebtekar daily published a large picture of a smog-cloaked Tehran, carrying the headline “My city has been lost”, and called for a reduction in the number of cars.



“Every day 3m inner city commutes by the metro and 4m such journeys by taxi have not resolved the capital’s air pollution crisis,” it said. According to Ebtekar, at least 1.25m obsolete cars were still in use in Tehran and 60% of cars in the city normally carry just one person.

The reformist daily Etemaad published a black column on its front page saying that “We are all to blame”. It said Tehran was suffocating because “we [the media] are not able to hold the authorities accountable”, “you are not switching off your cars” and “they [officials] are only capable of closing schools”.

The celebrated film-maker Dariush Mehrjui told Isna news agency that he had moved out of Tehran because of its pollution. “I can’t breathe in Tehran, simple as that. Everyone is fleeing Tehran ... everyone is choking, look at cancer rates. Who can live [in Tehran] under these circumstances?” </s> LAHORE: At least 17 people have died in different smog-related incidents in Punjab, while the polluted haze has also resulted in outbreak of diseases in several cities of the province.

At least two people were killed and five injured on Friday when two truck collided near Harrappa, Sahiwal.

The prevailing smog in Punjab has been causing enough difficulties to the citizen, as they complain of breathing issue, throat infection and pneumonia. An increase in number of patients is being observed at hospitals, with particularly young and elderly people in majority among them.

During last 12 hours, as many as 1,200 patients visited hospitals due to smog-related emergencies. In Jinnah Hospital, 130 children and 30 senior citizens were brought to hospital's emergency.

Motorway reopened

The motorway - leading from Lahore to Pindi Bhattian and from Pindi Bhattian to Faisalabad - has also been reopened after a brief closure as the visibility came down to zero on Thursday night. Authorities have advised the masses to travel at low speed and use fog lamps to avoid accidents.

Motorway authorities have advised people to travel and groups and maintain distance between cars.

Health advisory

Health experts have advised the people to avoid going out unnecessarily and recommended wearing masks and glasses while in open. It is further recommended that the heart patients should take steam regularly and avoid cold beverages.

'Rain expected'

Meanwhile, Director General Pakistan Meteorological Department Dr. Ghulam Rasool informed that a weak rain system will be entering Pakistan, resulting in light rainfall in Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa and upper Punjab in next 24 hours, which will give a temporary relief to the citizens from smog.

Hospitals on alert

Advisor to Punjab CM on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique said that if the smog situation persists, schools across Punjab can be closed. Speaking at a press conference along with the committee members, he said that hospitals are on alert all across the province. </s> BEIJING: Hospital visits spiked, roads were closed and flights cancelled Monday as China choked under a vast cloud of toxic smog, with forecasters warning the worse was yet to come.

At least 23 cities in the world’s most populous country have issued red alerts for air pollution since Friday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

A host of emergency measures have been implemented to protect the public’s health from the smog, which is smothering almost a ninth of the entire country.

On Monday morning—the fourth day of the alert which is scheduled to end on Wednesday—Beijing’s air quality was better than feared, with PM 2.5 levels hovering around 200, according to data maintained by the US Embassy.

However, the figure remained eight times the World Health Organization’s daily recommended maximum exposure level to the microscopic particles that carry major health risks.

And the relatively low number was just a temporary reprieve, Beijing’s meteorological authority told Agence France-Presse, adding that the worst haze would hit the city Monday night and linger until Tuesday.

In neighboring Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, PM 2.5 levels stood as high as 701 at noon, with levels of larger PM 10 particles even higher.

In the port city of Tianjin, where readings for PM 2.5 climbed over 400 early in the morning, more than 180 flights had been cancelled and around 60 delayed since the alert began, according to national broadcaster CCTV.

Highways in the city were also closed, it said.

Several large hospitals in Tianjin saw a surge in the number of patients with respiratory diseases like asthma, according to the People’s Daily.

A red alert, issued when severe smog is expected to last more than 72 hours, is the highest of Beijing’s four-tiered, color-coded warning system.

The capital issued its first ever-red alert last year in December since the adoption of an emergency response program for air pollution in 2013, despite frequent bouts of serious smog.

Most of China’s smog is blamed on the burning of coal for electricity and heating, which spikes when demand peaks in winter.

The issue is a source of enduring public anger in China, where fast economic growth in recent decades has come at the cost of widespread environmental degradation. AFP </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption The group died of asphyxiation after inhaling toxic fumes from the sewer

Seven people have died whilst cleaning a hotel sewer in western India, according to local police.

The four sanitation workers and three staff at Darshsan Hotel fell unconscious and died on Friday night after inhaling toxic fumes.

Their bodies have been recovered in the village of Fartikui, and the hotel owner has been charged over the deaths.

Gujarati authorities have pledged financial assistance to the victims' next of kin.

According to police, the incident began after one sanitary worker entered the septic tank. When he did not return from the tank or respond to calls, his three colleagues went in to find him.

Later, when none of the four had come out, three hotel staff went in to help them, but they too fell unconscious and died.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Newsnight: Unblocking India's sewers... by hand

After all seven went missing, local emergency services pulled their bodies out in a three-hour operation.

"All seven were dead as the pressure of gas was high in the tank, but we could bring their bodies out," fire officer Nikunj Azad told local press.

Safai Karmachari Andolan - a group campaigning to end manual sanitation work - estimates that nearly 1,800 sewer cleaners have died from suffocation during the last 10 years. </s> TEHRAN, Iran — Rescue teams in the Iranian capital worked through the night and into the day Friday to try and reach firefighters and other victims believed to be under the rubble of a commercial building that collapsed in Tehran the previous day.

Iranian officials have yet to offer definitive casualty figures for the disaster. Iran's state-run Press TV reported on Thursday that 30 firefighters had been killed, without elaborating.

Later Thursday, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said more than 20 firefighters had been killed and promised further updates. Ghalibaf also said there were no civilians inside the building at the time of the collapse, though witnesses said people had slipped through a police cordon to try and save their valuables inside the burning building.

On Friday, authorities said an injured firefighter died at a local hospital. No survivors or bodies have been pulled out of the rubble so far.

The disaster had stunned many Iranians and triggered an outpouring of grief across Tehran.

Iran's government announced that Saturday would be a day of mourning for the nation following the incident that "claimed lives of several people and brave firefighters," according to a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.

Jalal Maleki, spokesman of the Tehran Fire Department, told state TV that along with firefighters who are believed to be under the rubble, "we assume that there are some other people."

Iranian media said Behnam Mirzakhani, one of the firefighters hospitalized in Tehran, died Friday from his injuries sustained in the building's collapse.

A total of 84 people had been reported injured, but only five remained hospitalized, said Pirhossein Kolivand, head of the country's emergency department.

The disaster at the 17-story Plasco building, inadvertently shown live on state television that was reporting from the site after the building was engulfed in a fire on Thursday morning, came after authorities said they repeatedly warned tenants about blocking stairwells with fabric from cramped garment workshops on its upper floors.

The high-rise was home to more than 500 garment and clothing shops, their offices and warehouses, and was full of chemical materials, authorities said. The blaze and the subsequent collapse stunned the city and firefighters and others openly wept on the streets, holding each other for support. Dozens of people lined up to donate blood.

Smoke was still seen rising occasionally from the ruins on Friday.

"The smoke is a sign of continuation of the fire under the rubble," Saeed Sharifizadegan, head of Tehran's fire department.

Workers were digging several tunnels from buildings next door to reach the basement of the collapsed building. Teams of rescue dogs were also at the site.

Amir Mohammadi, a retired teacher who lives in a nearby neighborhood, said he couldn't sleep the entire night out of worry.

"How can I go to bed, all those who trapped are like my sons," he said. "Maybe some of them were my students."

Ghasem Rahmani, 63, who owned a shop in the building, stood at Lalehzar junction, a nearby intersection. "Until the collapse I was worrying about my belongings," he said. "Now I am worrying about our sons there."

Authorities described the building, built more than five decades ago, as having a weak structure. Thursday's fire was the worst in Tehran since a 2005 blaze at a historic mosque killed 59 worshippers and injured nearly 200 others.

By nightfall Friday, scores of Iranians held candlelit vigils outside many Tehran fire stations and in other cities and towns across Iran.

Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report. </s> (CNN) A dangerous gray haze descended on Northeast China over the weekend, choking off schools, flights and industry and endangering citizens simply trying to breathe, according to local reports.

China saw the smog coming and last week issued its first red alert of the year for 23 cities.

As of Saturday, the smog covered 10.1 million square kilometers (3.9 million square miles), according to the country's Ministry of Environmental Protection.

That's roughly the area of the United States.

Tianjin Binhai International Airport, a major air cargo center, suspended service from Sunday evening to mid-morning Monday, resulting in the cancellation of 131 flights and 75 delays, Xinhua said.

Beijing, the capital, also restricted automobile traffic, while in Shandong Province, down the coast from Tianjin, officials closed toll gates on four expressways. Flights were also delayed in Shandong.

Other measures undertaken by affected cities include suspending construction projects, canceling classes for kindergartens and primary schools and closing or reducing production at some factories. The measure affected 1,200 factories in the capital alone, the Ministry of Environmental Protection reported, citing the China Securities Journal.

The situation is so dire that it's created a spate of "smog refugees" who are fleeing Beijing for cleaner air to the south, according to the South China Morning Post . With the exception of first-class seats, tickets to resort areas in Yunnan and Fujian provinces are almost sold out, the paper reported.

Cities along the Yellow Sea coast -- including Beijing and Tianjin, along with the provinces of Shandong, Hebei, and, further inland, Shanxi and Henan -- were among the hardest-hit locales . But unhealthy smog levels -- specifically, air quality index values higher than 350 -- were detected as far southwest as Chengdu and as far northeast as Jixi.

Beijing issues red alerts when pollutants are forecast to push the air-quality index higher than 200 for at least four days, above 300 for two or more days or higher than 500 for 24 hours.

Some cities had pockets where air pollution was off the charts. Literally.

While the air-quality index used by the US Environmental Protection Agency stops at 500, several Chinese cities had readings that far surpassed that number as of early Tuesday.

Not over yet

To put those numbers in perspective, India, Kosovo and Macedonia had areas where pollution levels topped 300 late Monday (and Sanliurfa, Turkey, and three cities in Mexico had scores higher than 860), but nowhere monitored by the World Air Quality Index Project had numbers anywhere near China's.

The highest UK score Monday was a 142 in Stanford-le-Hope, east of London, and the highest U.S. score was a 168 in Seeley, Montana, according to the project map, which focuses more heavily on North America, Europe and Asia than it does other continents.

While China's Ministry of Environmental Protection reported improvements in air quality in some cities, the red alerts are expected to stay in effect until Wednesday because of weather conditions that are preventing the pollution from dissipating. </s> ISLAMABAD (AP) — Heavy smog loaded with pollutants has covered several urban and rural areas in eastern Pakistan, prompting breathing problems, and causing more than 20 deaths in traffic accidents caused by poor visibility on highways, officials and a senior meteorologist said.



Several cities in Punjab province, including the provincial capital Lahore, have been engulfed in haze since earlier this week. Meteorologist Mohammad Hanid told The Associated Press that the smog is "very unusual and it contains toxic air."



He said the smog has caused irritation in residents' eyes and an increase in respiratory-related health problems.



Hanif said that along with Beijing and New Delhi, eastern Pakistan is now experiencing chronic smog caused largely by factory emissions and motor vehicle exhaust.



With scores of residents reporting respiratory problems and irritated eyes, doctors are advising residents to try to stay indoors and wear facemasks outside.



Saba Mumtaz, a medical specialist at the Shaukat Khanum Cancer hospital, said the smog is particularly dangerous for residents with pre-existing respiratory conditions such as asthma.



Experts say increasing construction dust, burning of garbage, factory emissions and motor vehicle exhausts are all contributing factors to the phenomenon.



Since Monday, more than 20 people have been killed in smog-related traffic accidents in Punjab province. Police have been forced to close several stretches of the main highway that connects Punjab with the capital, Islamabad.
As many as 412 people have died in the last 23 days due to smog in Tehran, according to Iran's Health Ministry. All schools in the city have also been ordered to close as part of emergency measures.