(Tehran) Hundreds of people marched through towns in southwestern Iran to demand prosecution of those responsible for a building collapse earlier this week that killed 26 people, reported Friday local media.
Posted at 12:45 p.m.
On Monday, the 10-storey Metropol building, under construction in Abadan, one of the main cities of Khuzestan province, partially collapsed in the heart of a busy street.
It is one of the deadliest such disasters in Iran in years.
Videos and photos posted on the Fars news agency website show hundreds of residents marching through the streets of Abadan on Thursday night to mourn the victims by beating traditional drums. Some chanted “death to incompetent officials”.
A store belonging to the family of the owner of the building – also dead in the Metropol collapse – “was set on fire and destroyed by unknown persons on Thursday evening”, the Tasnim agency reported.
In Khorramshahr, a town in the same province, demonstrators demanded a “serious” trial for those responsible for this tragedy, according to Fars.
More than four days after the building collapsed, rescue teams are still finding bodies under the rubble. It is not known if any living people are still trapped under the rubble.
On Friday evening, the death toll rose to 26 after the discovery of two corpses, reported public television.
Officials said 37 people were also injured.
First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber visited Abadan on Friday, according to the Isna news agency.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered his condolences to the people of Abadan, calling for the prosecution and punishment of those responsible for this tragedy.
Local justice announced Tuesday the arrest of at least 10 people, including the mayor of Abadan and two former mayors, accused of being “responsible” for the tragedy.
In 2017, the collapse in central Tehran of the Plasco Building, a 15-storey shopping mall dating from the early 1960s, killed 22 people, including 16 firefighters.