One Body Retrieved from Rubble of Collapsed Building in Tehran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – As the operation to find the people trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building in downtown Tehran has entered the third consecutive day, rescue teams retrieved the first body from smoldering debris on Saturday morning.
The first body from a mass of smoky rubble at the site of the Plasco building in central Tehran was taken out at around 5 a.m. local time, Saturday.
The rescue operation is hampered mainly by the metal beams in a pile of rubble with white plumes of smoke rising into the sky.
Firefighters, soldiers and other emergency responders have been digging through the debris over the past two days, looking for survivors. It is not clear how many people were in the steel-and-concrete building when it collapsed.
According to Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, between 20 to 25 people are believed to have been trapped under the rubble.
Top stories of the Plasco building caught fire at around 8 a.m. on Thursday morning, and the whole building crumpled to the ground four hours later.
On Friday morning, a firefighter that had been admitted to hospital with serious burns succumbed to his injuries.
Authorities say they had repeatedly warned tenants about blocking stairwells with fabric from cramped garment workshops on its upper floors.
The 17-story structure was inaugurated in 1962 and named after a plastics manufacturing company. It was the tallest building in the city at the time of its construction. It included shopping centers and clothing workshops.
Iran’s government has declared a day of national mourning in commemoration of the firemen killed in the tragic incident.
