Asia

Home page

Asia

Death toll from Tehran trade center collapse hits 50 - UPDATED

Death toll from Tehran trade center collapse hits 50 - <span style="color: red;">UPDATED

19 January 2017 12:02 (UTC +04:00)

The number of people killed in the collapse of Plasco Trade Center in Tehran has reached 50. Many of the victims are said to be firefighters.

Among those trapped under the rumble are also people who were working in the trade center, APA’s Tehran bureau reported.

The nearby buildings of the embassies of Turkey, Germany, and the UK have been evacuated.

A state of emergency has been declared in Tehran Province. Army units and trained dogs are also involved in the rescue efforts.

To prevent a possible gas explosion, the authorities have ceased the gas supply in the region. About 70 people are reported to have been injured. 23 of them are in hospital.

***

13:17

An immense fire has caused a multi-storey trade center to collapse in Iran’s capital city of Tehran.

The fire started around 08:00 early this morning in Plasco Trade Center, a seventeen-storey building which is situated across the Turkish embassy, APA’s Tehran bureau reported.

Several firefighter brigades were deployed to the site to tackle the fire. The firefighters had almost put out the blaze before it gained renewed intensity causing the whole building to collapse. As a consequence, 35 people were injured.

It should be mentioned that the Plasco Trade Center is the first multi-storey building constructed in Tehran. The efforts to extinguish the fire involved 200 firefighters, 30 of whom are believed to have been trapped under the rubble. The Iranian media report that they are dead.

The embassy buildings nearby have been evacuated.