TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian authorities have arrested five people over the ****** of four young Saudi pilgrims in Iran as a result of an accidental **** ********* in their hotel, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported Monday.

The report quoted Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, the spokesman for the judiciary, as saying authorities are investigating the ********. The five people arrested are all employees of the hotel.

“There is no evidence to show the ******** was a deliberate act,” Ejehi said, without elaborating on the nature of the charges.

IRNA said the ******* included a 14-year-old girl and three young boys, all age 3. Ejehi said 24 other people were hospitalized over exposure to the ******, which is commonly used to **** insects and rats.

The ******** took place in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, which is home to a major Shiite ****** Shrine. The city is visited by nearly two million foreign religious pilgrims per year, coming from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain, Azerbaijan and the Indian subcontinent.