World

Thirty Iranian firefighters killed after burning building collapses in Tehran

THIRTY firefighters are reported to have been killed when a burning building in the capital of Iran collapsed.

State-run Press TV announced the deaths in the blaze at the Plasco building, a landmark structure in central Tehran, just north of the capital's sprawling bazaar, on Thursday.

It gave no source for the information.

The blaze began hours earlier but the cause was not immediately known.

The 17-storey tower was built in the early 1960s by Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian and named after his plastics manufacturing company. It was the tallest building in the city at the time of its construction.

Authorities told the state-run Irna news agency just after the collapse that at least 38 people had been injured and some were trapped in the rubble.

Firefighters battled the blaze for several hours before the collapse as police kept out shopkeepers and others wanting to rush back in to collect their valuables.

The building came down in a matter of seconds, shown live on state television, which had begun an interview with a journalist at the scene.

A side of the building came down first, tumbling perilously close to a firefighter perched on a ladder and spraying water on the blaze.

A thick plume of brown smoke rose over the site. Onlookers wailed in grief.

An emotional firefighter stands next to his colleague outside to the Plasco building engulfed by a fire, in central Tehran, Iran, Thursday, January 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) 
An emotional firefighter stands next to his colleague outside to the Plasco building engulfed by a fire, in central Tehran, Iran, Thursday, January 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)  An emotional firefighter stands next to his colleague outside to the Plasco building engulfed by a fire, in central Tehran, Iran, Thursday, January 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) 

Jalal Maleki, a fire department spokesman, earlier told Iranian state television that 10 fire stations had responded to the blaze, which was first reported at around 8am local time.

The Plasco building was a landmark on the Tehran skyline.

Elghanian was tried on charges that included espionage and executed in the months after the 1979 Islamic Revolution which brought the current ruling system to power - a move that prompted many members of the country's longstanding Jewish community to flee.

The tower is attached to a multi-storey shopping centre featuring a sky-lit atrium and a series of turquoise-coloured fountains.