Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution in Iran, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei voiced sorrow over the “painful” fire and collapse of Tehran’s 17-storey Plasco high-rise on Thursday.
“The painful fire in and collapse of the building in downtown the city have made me deeply saddened, unhappy and concerned,” Imam Khamenei said in a message carried by IRNA official news agency.
Meanwhile, his eminence praised the firefighters who took part in the rescue operations.
“The courage and devotion of the firefighters, who were hit by the incident in the course of the rescue operations and underwent a difficult test while fulfilling their devotion out of commitment, fills one’s heart with praise as well as concern and pain,” the message read.
For the time being, the priority in efforts should be rescuing those trapped in the debris and then the root causes of the incident should be investigated, the Leader said.
“I ask all officials to continue their hard working as they did in the past several hours and give preference to their emergency duty than any other thing. Hope for God Almighty’s assistance, God Willing.”
The fire started in the 17-storey business building in the early hours on Thursday. It remains to be unclear how the fire began.
The tower building was built in the early 1960s and it was the tallest building in the city at the time of its construction.
A large number of businesses in the building were believed to be involved in the textile and garment industries.
Source: Agencies
