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Tehran: Hundreds of residents of Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran took to the streets Thursday night, demanding accountability for those responsible for the collapse of a building in the city of Abadan, local media reported Friday, in a disaster that killed at least 24 people.
A large part of the ten-storey Metropole building in Abadan, in the border province of Khuzestan with Iraq, collapsed Monday, causing one of the worst related disasters in Iran in years. The unfinished building is located in one of the most prominent streets of the city, which has a population of 230,000 people.
Pictures and videos published by Fars Agency on its website on Friday showed hundreds of people in the streets of Abadan on Thursday night, commemorating the mourning ceremonies for the victims and the missing by beating traditional drums and brass gongs.
The agency reported that some of the participants in the gathering chanted slogans such as “Down with the incompetent official” and saluted the “Metropol martyrs”.
The streets of the city of Khorramshahr in the same governorate witnessed similar movements, during which the residents expressed their sympathy with the families of the victims and the missing, and demanded a “conclusive and serious” trial for those responsible.
State television indicated that the streets of Abadan also witnessed movements on Wednesday night, once morest the background of the collapse of the building.
More than four days following the massive building collapsed, rescue teams are still recovering bodies from the rubble.
A videotape broadcast by “Tasnim” agency on Friday showed rescuers crossing over the rubble, transporting a medical stretcher on which a victim was wrapped in the black body bag. Dozens of people waiting in the street met the rescuers, chanting “There is no god but God.”
ISNA news agency quoted the governor of Abadan, Ihsan Abbaspour, as saying on Friday that the death toll had reached 24, five more than the number announced yesterday.
Officials had previously confirmed that 37 people had been infected, most of whom were discharged from hospital following treatment. The authorities did not specify the exact number of the missing, who are feared to be still under the rubble.
Call to Account
The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday evening, offered condolences to the people of Abadan for the “unfortunate incident” that affected their city, according to a message posted on his website.
He stressed that the incident “imposes on all of us officials in the country the duty to prosecute and punish the negligent people in the incident, so that they may serve as an example to those who were considered,” stressing the necessity of “comprehensive endeavor to avoid the recurrence of such an incident throughout the country.”
And the judiciary revealed earlier this week that at least ten people had been arrested in the case, including the mayor of Abadan and two who previously held the position, and two municipal employees who supervised the project, who were held “responsible” for the collapse of the building.
The collapse of the building in Abadan brought to mind an incident that occurred in early 2017, represented by the collapse of the “Plasco” building in the center of Tehran, a commercial center dating back to the early 1960s.
The 15-storey building collapsed while firefighters were working to put out a fire that broke out in it. According to the official toll, 22 people died in the accident, including 16 firefighters.
