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An unfinished building collapsed in southwest Iran, killing ten people and injuring dozens more, according to the Iranian Red Crescent. According to official television, rescue crews worked through the night to free the scores of people still trapped in the 10-story Metropol office building in Abadan.
Concrete floors and steel beams had crashed onto the street below, crushing many automobiles, according to photos.
The cause of the collapse is being probed, according to officials.
A regional governor informed Iran’s national news agency Irna that those who had been trapped in the building for hours had been rescued and sent to the hospital.
Both the Metropol’s owner and the building contractor, according to local prosecutor Hamid Maranipour, have been arrested.
Irna said the building was on Abadan’s busiest business street and that the bottom levels had been open for a few days while the upper floors were under construction.
Witnesses reported the fall occurred suddenly about 12:40 local time (08:10 GMT).
The Iranian Red Crescent claimed 23 rescue teams from Abadan and surrounding areas, as well as more than a dozen ambulances, rushed to the scene.
Initially, it was thought that at least 80 people were buried in the rubble, but after many hours, rescuers reduced the number of individuals missing to “tens.” According to the Mehr news agency, the majority of individuals trapped were shopping on the ground level of one of the building’s completed sections.
Angry locals gathered to the streets later Monday afternoon to protest the actions of local authorities. “Today is a day of grief for poor Abadan,” they shouted in a video.
A throng appeared to dash after the city’s mayor, Hossein Hamidpour, near the fall in another video.
When the 17-story Plasco building in Tehran caught fire and eventually fell in 2017, at least 20 people were killed, including 16 firefighters.