Ten-Storey Building Collapses In Iran, 80 Trapped Under Rubble

A 10-storey building in Iran's southern city of Abadan partly collapsed on Monday, killing at least five people and trapping over 80 people under the debris.

Operations are still going on to rescue the people buried in the rubble of the residential-commercial property named Metropol in the southwestern Khuzestan province.

A helicopter, seven rescue vehicles, and two teams of rescue dogs are also present at the site of the incident. The number of casualties is increasing every hour and no official estimate is still out from the damages.

According to reports, in addition to emergency teams from nearby cities of Khoramshahr, Mahshahr, and Shadegan , anti-riot forces are also dispatched to the scene as Abadan residents have gathered at the site and are shouting slogans against the city authorities and government.

The head of Khuzestan province's judiciary has ordered an investigation into the building's collapse, and its owner and the contractor who built it have been arrested, Abadan’s special prosecutor Hamid Maranipour said.

The owner and builder, Hossein Abdolbaghi, had previously received a safety award from police, and in 2018 was selected by the Industry Ministry as the "Top Entrepreneur of the Arvand Free Zone", an area of 37,400 hectares at the confluence of the Karun and Arvand (Shatt al-Arab) rivers in the province. He is known to be close to Iran’s security forces.

Videos posted on social media also showed a group of people protesting to Abadan Mayor Hossein Hamidpour, who was present at the scene. According to some reports, the mayor was beaten by the angry protestors.