According to Lebanese authorities and Hezbollah, at least eight people were killed and more than 2,750 injured on Tuesday when pager devices belonging to a large number of Hezbollah personnel from various units and institutions exploded.

Among the dead were a ten-year-old girl from the eastern village of Saraain and two Hezbollah members, reported the Hezbollah-affiliated news agency Al-Ahed News.

“These explosions, the causes of which are still unknown, resulted in the martyrdom of a girl and two brothers and the injury of a large number of people with various injuries,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

About 200 of the injuries were critical, meaning they would require surgery, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Most of the injuries affected the face, hands and abdomen, officials said.

Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was one of those who owned one of these pagers and was injured in an explosion on Tuesday, Iranian state television reported.

According to Iranian state television, Amani said in a phone call after the incident that he was “feeling fine and fully conscious.”

Hezbollah said it was conducting a “security and scientific investigation to determine the causes that led to these simultaneous explosions.”

The Lebanese Ministry of Health issued a statement on Tuesday instructing all hospitals in various regions of Lebanon to be on high alert and increase their operational readiness to meet the rapid need for emergency medical care.

The ministry noted that preliminary information indicated that “the injuries were related to the explosion of wireless devices in the possession of the injured.”

The ministry also called on all citizens who own a pager to dispose of them immediately.

The Lebanese Red Cross said in a post on its official X-account that it had deployed “more than 30 ambulances” to help treat and evacuate “the injured as a result of the numerous explosions in the south, in the Bekaa Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut.”

The group also added that “50 additional ambulances and 300 paramedics are on standby to help evacuate the victims.”

About 100 hospitals have admitted injured people, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.

Back in February, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had called on his members to refrain from using mobile phones: “I am calling for the renunciation of mobile phones at this time, which are considered a lethal weapon.”

This is a developing story, please check back later for updates.