Historic high-rise building in Tehran collapses, kills at least 30 firefighters

A 17-storey Plasco building, a historic high-rise in the heart of Tehran caught fire and later collapsed killing at least 30 firefighters. The disaster was inadvertently shown live on state television and happened in spite of the authorities repeatedly warning the tenants about blocking stairwells with fabric from cramped garment workshops located on its upper floors.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 20 January 2017.

It was not clear how many people were in the steel-and-concrete building at the time of the incident. The fire appeared to be the most intense on the upper floors - it was the location of workshops where tailors cooked for themselves and used old kerosene heaters for warmth.
President Hassan Rouhani has ordered his Interior Minister to investigate the disaster.
The Plasco building was one of the first high-rise to come up against the backdrop of Mount Damavand. It was started in 1962 and was the first privately owned tower to be built during the era of the US-backed shah, when oil money fueled the capital's rapid development. The tower was the tallest in Tehran at that time and was just north of the sprawling Grand Bazaar. It got its name from the plastics manufacturing company that was owned by its builder who was an Iranian Jewish businessman.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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