Five killed in Iran as buildings collapse during unsafe demolition

Five people have been killed after several buildings collapsed in Southern Iran on Sunday, according to the Iranian state-run news agency, Tasnim.

Reportedly, Iranian authorities had approved the demolition of multiple unauthorized buildings, but, due to neglect of certain safety precautions in the construction of neighboring buildings, a number of these adjacent buildings collapsed as well. 

As a result, five people, including two Iranian police officers, were killed. Others were trapped under the rubble resulting from the collapse.

Tasnim quoted multiple officials overseeing the rescue and cleanup efforts.

"A few hours ago, during the demolition of one of the unsafe units in this area, due to the non-observance of safety precautions by the buildings adjacent to this building and the lack of stability of the structure, 5 neighboring buildings suffered It was destroyed,” The head of the Information Center of the Greater Tehran Police Command, Col. Babak Namkhonesh said on Sunday. “As a result of which, four police personnel and two municipal personnel were trapped under the construction debris.”

The two officers killed by the building collapse were upper-ranking police personnel. These individuals were the head of the 10th base of the Greater Tehran Security Police, Col. Yazdan Suleimanabadi, and Major Hossein Esmaili, also of the 10th base of the Greater Tehran Security Police.

Rescue services arrived at the scene shortly after the collapse and quickly began removing rubble, going from one section of construction rubble to the next.

"Up to this moment, the number of dead in the Khalazir accident has reached 5 people and we have pulled out 2 people alive from under the rubble," Jalal Maleki, the spokesperson of the Tehran Fire Department said on Monday.

Another possibly trapped under rubble

On Monday, Tasnim reported the possibility of an additional person still being trapped under the rubble of the collapsed buildings.

"Our colleagues are still working at the scene of the accident,” Malekisaid. “It is possible that one more person is also under the debris, but this issue is not certain.”

Tasnim went on to report that so far no arrests have been made in connection to the incident, but it is possible that some construction personnel will be arrested in the future.