Dozens Feared Dead After Iran's Oldest High-Rise Building Collapses

    Local news outlets have reported that at least 30 firefighters may have been inside Tehran's Plasco tower when it collapsed following a blaze. Dozens of injuries were reported but the number of fatalities is not yet known.

    A major high-rise building in the heart of the commercial district of the Iranian capital Tehran collapsed after it caught fire on Thursday, with dozens feared dead, local news agencies reported.

    The Plasco tower — the oldest high-rise in the country — had been ablaze for several hours when it came crashing down, with around 30 firefighters possibly being trapped or killed, according to unidentified sources quoted by the FARS news agency. The state-run Press TV also ran with the same number of deaths without quoting a source, AP reported.

    Footage of the moment the building collapsed can be watched here:

    لحظه فروریختن ساختمان #پلاسکو در #تهران

    Pir Hoseyni Kolivand, the head of the country's department for emergencies, told the IRNA news agency that it was not yet known how many firefighters or relief workers were in the building at the time it came down.

    Kolivind told the IRIB agency that at least 70 people had been injured and 23 hospitalized, while Tehran's Mayor Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf said up to 25 people were trapped under the debris, according to Press TV.

    Onlookers and those working nearby were said to have reacted with shock and grief when the tower came down, according to AP.

    Speaking through tears on a street nearby, local resident Abbas Nikkhoo said: "My nephew was working in a workshop there. He has been living with me since moving to Tehran last year from the north of the country in hopes of finding a job."

    Another local resident, Masoumeh Kazemi, said she rushed to the area when she heard the news of the collapse, as her brother and two sons had jobs in a workshop in the upper floors of the building. "I do not know where they are now," she said.

    The Plasco tower was built during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and was Iran's tallest building when it was completed. It is located near a busy shopping mall and the city's sprawling bazaar.

    The 17-story tower was built by Jewish-Iranian businessman Habib Elghanian and was named after his plastics firm. In 1979, following the country's Islamic revolution, Elghanian was tried on charges including espionage and executed, according to AP.

    Here are older images of the Plasco building, built in Tehran in 1959, which collapsed today after fire