Buildings collapsed in Iran 3 killed, 11 injured

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Tehran

At least three people were killed and 11 others injured after several semi-finished buildings collapsed in Iran’s capital Tehran, local media reported. The incident happened on Sunday morning when Tehran municipality workers were preparing to demolish an unsafe building, Xinhua news agency quoted the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) as saying.

Citing a statement from the Tehran Police Information Center, ISNA said the collapse of the unprotected building also caused five nearby buildings to collapse. Due to this, four policemen and two employees of the municipality were buried under the debris. Rescue teams are making efforts to pull people out of the debris and four people have been rescued so far, the statement said.

Tehran Fire Department spokesman Jalal Maleki said the incident was reported at 12:24 p.m. Rescue teams were immediately dispatched to the scene with the help of cranes and debris removal equipment. One building collapsed completely and others partially collapsed, he said. He said the buildings were under construction and no one was living inside them.

Maleki said three people died after being pulled from the rubble, adding that it was unclear how many were buried under the rubble. According to Babak Namakshenes, head of the Tehran Police Information Center, two policemen were among the dead. The head of Tehran’s medical emergency organization, Mohammad Esmail Tavakoli, said 11 others were wounded, eight of whom have been hospitalised, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.