Posted in: 24/05/2022 – 17:26Last updated: 24/05/2022 – 14:07
Tehran (AFP) – The death toll from the collapse of a huge unfinished building in southwestern Iran has risen to at least ten, while searches for missing persons continue, according to official sources on Tuesday, with confirmation of the arrest of a number of “responsible persons” for the accident.
On Monday, a large part of the ten-storey “Metropol” building, located on a busy street in the city of Abadan in Iran’s Khuzestan province, collapsed.
“According to the latest figures, 10 people were killed and 32 others were wounded,” Interior Minister Ahmed Wahidi said in statements to state television from the scene of the accident.
He pointed out to the continuation of searches for the missing, whose exact number the authorities did not specify, knowing that yesterday’s estimates were in the dozens.
A preliminary toll from the National Relief Authority reported on Monday that six people were killed and 27 others wounded.
On Tuesday, the judiciary revealed the arrest of ten people, including the mayor of Abadan and two who previously held the position, in addition to municipal employees supervising the project, accusing them of being “responsible” for the collapse of the building, according to the “Mizan Online” website of the judiciary in the Islamic Republic.
The building is located on “the city’s busiest central street” next to “commercial, medical and other” buildings that house institutions and offices, state television reported Monday.
A number of witnesses who spoke to the official channel said that the collapse of the building occurred “suddenly”.
And the authorities opened an investigation to determine the causes of the collapse.
And after Iranian media reported on Monday that the owner of the building had been arrested, Mizan Online indicated on Tuesday that he was among the victims of the collapse.
And the local authorities announced mourning tomorrow, Wednesday, in Abadan, which has a population of about 230 thousand people, located in the border province of Khuzestan with Iraq.
The collapse incident brought to mind the disaster of the “Plasco” building in central Tehran, which occurred in early 2017.
The 15-storey building collapsed while firefighters were working to put out a blaze. According to the official toll, 22 people died in the accident, including 16 firefighters.
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