TEHRAN -- Iran paid more tribute on Saturday to a teenager who died of severe burns after having rescued two women neighbors trapped in a fire in their apartment building.
Fifteen-year-old Ali Landi died of his injuries on Friday, two weeks after he helped the women escape their burning home and tried to throw a gas cylinder out of the window to stop the fire spreading, Iranian media said.
The teenager died of “90 percent burns”, said Emam Kazem hospital in Isfahan, central Iran, where he was transferred from his hometown of Izeh in the country’s southwest.
The two neighbors, a woman in her eighties and her daughter, suffered superficial burns in the September 9 blaze, local media said.
Iranians saluted the teenager’s courage online, with many urging the education ministry to incorporate his story in school materials.
On Saturday, a photo of the smiling adolescent was splashed across the front pages of most Iranian newspapers.
The office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei contacted Landi’s family to offer condolences, official news agency IRNA reported.
President Ebrahim Raisi called on artists to “tell the story of sacrifice by such national heroes as a source of inspiration for future generations”, in a statement on his website.
A video circulating on social media showed a coffin being carried from the Isfahan hospital in front of an honor guard and a military band, before burial in his hometown.