At least 75 people, including 45 firefighters, were injured when a blazing high-rise commercial building in downtown Tehran collapsed, Iranian state television reported on Thursday.
One witness described the 17-storey tower's collapse as like a "scene from a horror movie".
"At least 45 firefighters are among the injured ones. All of the injured people were sent to hospitals. Most of them have been discharged," state TV reported.
State television said 200 firefighters had been called to the scene and several of them had been injured battling the blaze before it fell. The building, dating from the early 1960's and including a shopping centre and clothing workshops, had been evacuated after the fire broke out early today.
But state television said "tens" of firefighters may have been inside when it collapsed. Dramatic images showed flames pouring out of the top floors before it crumbled to the ground.
"We had repeatedly warned the building managers about the lack of safety of the building," fire brigade spokesman Jalal Malekias said, adding that it lacked fire extinguishers. "Even in the stairwells, a lot of clothing is stored and this is against safety standards. The managers didn't pay attention to the warnings," he said.
The Plasco building was the first high-rise and shopping centre in Tehran and was the city's tallest building when it was finished in 1962, before being dwarfed by the construction boom of later years. It was built by Habibollah Elghanian, a prominent Iranian-Jewish businessman who was arrested for ties to Israel and sentenced to death and executed after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
