Posted on 12/27/2003 4:00:05 PM PST by freedom44
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - At least one American tourist was killed and another seriously injured in the earthquake that claimed tens of thousands of lives in Iran, the State Department said on Saturday. The injured American has been hospitalized in Tehran, State Department spokesman Lou Fintor said.
"The injuries are serious but do not appear to be life threatening," Fintor told reporters traveling with President Bush to his ranch in Texas.
The Swiss Embassy is aiding the American in the absence of U.S. diplomatic ties with Iran. Relatives of the two Americans have been notified, but the State Department has not received permission to release their names.
U.S. aid offers and attempts to help U.S. nationals in Iran are complicated by the diplomatic chill between the two countries. Washington broke relations with the Islamic Republic after students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979, and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
But Americans can obtain visas to visit Iran through the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. The U.S. citizen who died and the one who was injured were in Bam to see the city's 2,000-year-old citadel, which was badly damaged in the quake.
The United States is expected to announce an extensive assistance package to Iran, which Bush has branded as part of an "axis of evil," saying it is trying to develop weapons of mass destruction in secret. But the president offered condolences to the families of the deceased and injured on Friday and pledged U.S. humanitarian aid.
Ping!
So9
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