Dozens of firefighters killed after tower collapses
IRAN - A high-rise Tehran building engulfed by a fire has collapsed, killing at least 30 firefighters and injuring 75 other people, according to state media reports. Firefighters had been battling the blaze at the Plasco building, a landmark structure in the centre of the Iranian capital, for several hours when it collapsed. Press TV announced the firefighters’ deaths, without giving a source for the information. State television said 30 civilians were injured in the disaster, while the state-run IRNA news agency said 45 firefighters had been hurt. Police had been trying to keep out shopkeepers and others wanting to rush back in to collect their valuables. The building came down within 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. Jalal Maleki, a fire department spokesman, told Iranian state television that 10 firehouses responded to the blaze, which was reported at about 8am local time. The Iranian military sent units to help with the disaster, state television reported. The 17-storey 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 and was situated just north of the bazaar. Elghanian was tried on charges that included espionage and executed in the months after the 1979 Islamic revolution that brought the current ruling system to power, a move that prompted many members of the country’s longstanding Jewish community to flee. The tower, situated just north of the city’s bazaar, was attached to a multistory shopping centre featuring a skylit atrium and a series of fountains.
(Theguardian.com)