Iranian authorities announced on Thursday that 18 people were killed in the collapse of a building under construction in southwestern Iran, in a new toll after four days of the tragedy.
On Monday, a large part of the 10-storey "Metropol" building under construction collapsed in Abadan, one of the main cities in Iran's Khuzestan province. The building is located in the middle of one of the busiest streets in the city of 230,000 people.
"The exact number of people who are still under the rubble is still unknown, but we have found 18 bodies so far," Abadan Governor Ihsan Abbaspour told the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
A previous toll indicated on Wednesday that 14 people had been killed.
Abbaspour confirmed that "37 people were pulled out from under the rubble and taken to hospital," and then most of them left. He pointed out that the search will continue "until the last body is found."
On Wednesday, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state TV that the search operations were going "slowly" due to "the possibility of the collapse of nearby buildings."
The building is located on "the city's busiest central street" next to "commercial, medical and other" buildings that house institutions and offices, state television reported Monday.
On Tuesday, the judiciary revealed the arrest of ten people, including the mayor of Abadan and two who previously held the position, in addition to municipal employees supervising the project, accusing them of being "responsible" for the collapse of the building.
The collapse incident brought to mind the disaster of the "Plasco" building in central Tehran, which occurred in early 2017, a commercial center dating back to the early sixties.
The 15-storey building collapsed while firefighters were working to put out a blaze. According to the official toll, 22 people died in the accident, including 16 firefighters.