TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- A mosque fire that killed 59 people and injured another 350 was blamed on a kerosene heater that was too close to a thick curtain separating male and female worshippers, Iran's official news agency reported Tuesday.
A survivor of Monday's fire said some of the deaths were caused by a stampede of panicked people trying to escape the flames racing through the Arg Mosque, which was more crowded than usual because of a Muslim holiday.
Some worshippers, many of them women, were injured when they jumped from second-floor windows, the witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Police Chief Brig. Gen. Morteza Talaie said ``basic safety rules'' were ignored, including the installation of the kerosene heater too close to the curtain, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
However, there were differences over the cause. IRNA also reported unidentified witnesses as saying a woman's veil caught fire from the heater and the flames spread to the curtain.
Workers at the mosque Tuesday cleared away debris, repainted blackened walls and replaced window panes.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mohammad Khatami sent their condolences to the families of the victims, IRNA reported.
The mosque, which can hold 600 people, was more crowded than usual as worshippers were marking Muharram, which commemorates the 7th century death of Hussein, grandson of Islam's prophet Muhammad.
Firefighters extinguished the fire an hour after it started, state television said.
But Reza Pourbaradaran, who lives nearby, complained that firefighters arrived too late.
``Firefighters arrived one hour after the fire broke and when serious damage had been done,'' he said.
Fires involving heaters are not uncommon in Iran.
At least 12 people were injured when a fire broke out in a mosque in northwestern Iran on Monday evening, IRNA reported. A heater in the mosque ignited the wooden ceiling, the agency reported, but did not give further details.
