Death toll from building collapse in Iran rises to 26

TEHRAN – The death toll from the collapse of an unfinished building in southwestern Iran has risen to 26, state media said.

Dozens were injured when the 10-storey Metropole office building in Abadan fell to the ground on Monday.

Pictures showed concrete floors and steel beams falling onto the street below, causing several cars to crash.

The search and rescue operation is continuing, and the cause of the collapse is being investigated.

At least 10 people were reportedly arrested, including the construction contractor, the mayor and two former mayors.

Hundreds of angry people, many of them drums and cymbals, took to the streets in Abadan on Thursday night and Friday morning in protest.

Iran’s Fars news agency reported that some chanted “Death to incompetent officials” and praised “the capital’s martyrs.”

State news agency IRNA reported that the building was located on the busiest commercial street in Abadan, and its lower floors were open for a few days while construction work continued on top.

Eyewitnesses said that the collapse, which occurred around 12:40 local time (08:10 GMT), was surprising.

“I thought it was an earthquake at first,” Ahmed, a shop owner, told the Associated Press.

The Iranian Red Crescent said that 23 rescue teams from Abadan and neighboring cities rushed to the scene with more than 12 ambulances.

Iranian Mehr news agency said most of the trapped were shopping on the ground floor of one of the completed parts of the building.

The accident raised questions about the country’s safety standards.

Senior official Mohamed Mokhber told state television that he believed there was “large-scale corruption” during the construction of the tower.

According to local authorities, the building was legally only allowed to have six floors, but another four floors were added when it was built, the Associated Press reported.

During the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, the area faced massive destruction – and many reconstruction projects in the area were criticized for poor building practices.

But the collapse in Abadan remains the deadliest such incident in Iran in years.

In 2017, at least 20 people, including 16 firefighters, were killed when the 17-storey Plasco building in Tehran caught fire and then collapsed. – BBC

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