Tehran, Oct 1 (IANS): Fifteen people have been killed in a flash flood in the southeastern Iranian province of Kerman, the official news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.

The flood occurred on Monday afternoon as heavy rainfalls caused Halil River in Jiroft County to overflow its banks, the report quoted Jiroft Governor Ahmad Bolandnazar as saying.

The governor added that 16 teams of the provincial Red Crescent Society as well as voluntary forces and local people had been searching for the 15 people missing in the flood since Monday evening, and all the bodies were found by Tuesday.

According to Bolandnazar, all the victims, except one, were Afghan nationals who were swimming in the river when the flood took place, Xinhua news agency reported.

Afshin Salehinejad, Jiroft's public and revolution prosecutor, said a lawsuit had been filed to take legal action against those potentially culpable, including government organizations such as the province's meteorological organization, the IRNA reported.