Highrise blaze kills at least 30 firefighters

Historic Tehran building collapses

• A historic highrise in the heart of Iran’s capital caught fire and later collapsed Thursday, killing at least 30 firefighters and leaving their stunned colleagues and bystanders weeping in the streets.

The disaster at the 17-storey Plasco building, inadvertently shown live on state television, came after authorities said they repeatedly warned tenants about blocking stairwells with fabric from cramped garment workshops on its upper floors.

Firefighters, soldiers and other emergency responders dug through the debris into the night, looking for survivors. While it was not clear how many people were in the steel-and-concrete building, witnesses said many had slipped through a police cordon while the fire burned to go back inside for their belongings.

“They asked us ... using loudspeakers to evacuate the building, but some people went inside again, saying their precious documents, their bank cheques, their entire life was in their shops,” said witness Masoud Hosseini. “They went inside to fetch those documents. I felt like they cared about their belongings, cheques and money more than their lives.

“Firefighters went inside to bring them out, and then suddenly the building collapsed,” Hosseini said.

Iranian authorities did not immediately release definitive casualty figures.

Firefighters began battling the blaze around 8 a.m., some 31/2 hours before the collapse. The fire appeared to be the most intense on the upper floors, the site of workshops where tailors cooked for themselves and used old kerosene heaters for warmth.

The building came down in seconds, shown live on state television, which had begun an interview with a journalist at the scene. One side collapsed first, tumbling perilously close to a firefighter perched on a ladder and spraying water on the blaze.

A thick plume of brown smoke rose over the site, and onlookers wailed in grief.

“God willing, nothing happened to firefighters who were there,” the journalist said, then began crying.

The Plasco building was an iconic presence on Tehran’s skyline. Opened in 1962, it was the first privately owned tower to be built during the era of the U. S.- backed shah, when oil money fuelled the capital’s rapid development.

The t ower, t he t allest in Tehran at the time, got its name from the plastics manufacturing company owned by its builder, Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian.

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew the shah, Iran’s new clerical rulers had Elghanian tried on charges that included spying for Israel and he was executed by firing squad.