30 firefighters killed in Iran high-rise collapse

Tehran, Jan. 19: Iran’s state-run Press TV says 30 firefighters have been killed in the collapse of a burning high-rise building in Tehran. Press TV announced the deaths on Thursday in the blaze at the Plasco building, an iconic structure in central Tehran just north of the capital’s sprawling bazaar.

There was no immediate cause offered for the fire.

The 17-story tower was built in the early 1960s by Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian and named after his plastics manufacturing company. It was the tallest building in the city at the time of its construction.

Iran’s state-run Press TV said people were believed to be trapped inside the rubble. The head of Tehran’s emergency said that 70 firefighters had been injured and 23 hospitalised as they rushed to evacuate the building.

Authorities told a news agency just after the collapse that at least 38 people had been injured at the Plasco building.

Firefighters battled the blaze for several hours before the collapse as police kept out shopkeepers and others wanting to rush back in to collect their valuables.

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

“I was inside and suddenly I felt the building is shaking and is about to collapse. As we gathered colleagues and got out, a minute later the building collapsed,” said Ali, a firefighter at the scene.

Dramatic images showed flames pouring out of the top floors of the building just before it came down. President Hassan Rouhani called for an immediate investigation into the causes of the incident, calling it “unfortunate and sorrowful”.