A report said the number of people killed in the massive anti-government protests that erupted recently in Iran may reach 30,000.
Time, the U.S. news magazine, said on the 25th (local time) on its website, citing two senior officials at Iran's Health Ministry, that "as many as about 30,000 people may have died in just the two days on the 8th–9th, when Iran's anti-government protests peaked."
They added that so many people were massacred by Iran's security forces at the time that stocks of body bags ran out and trucks had to substitute for ambulances, overwhelming the authorities' capacity to handle the dead.
On the 21st, Iranian authorities said the death toll related to the protests was 3,117, but the report said 10 times more people were killed.
Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a U.S.-based group, noted it had confirmed 5,137 deaths. Separate from the confirmed toll, it said it is investigating another 12,904 cases and that there are at least 7,402 additional people seriously injured.
In Iran, protests broke out on the 28th of last month over an economic crisis and soon escalated into nationwide, large-scale anti-government demonstrations. After Iranian authorities imposed a total internet shutdown on the 8th and moved to a bloody crackdown, the death toll grew. The protests have reportedly subsided for now.