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A30 world news
Diaranson 25 Mei 2022

Iran building collapse kills 11 as mayor and others detained

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Later Tuesday, the state-run
Rescuers dug through debris IRNA news agency quoted
Tuesday of a building col- Faramarz Zoghi, a construc-
lapse in southwestern Iran tion expert and adviser to
that killed at least 11 people, Iran's construction engineers
fearful that many more could league, as saying that "defi-
still be trapped beneath the nitely national construction
rubble as authorities arrested measures were not observed"
the city's mayor in a widening at the site. Authorities also
probe of the disaster. declared a one-day mourn-
The collapse Monday of an ing period Wednesday over
under-construction 10-story the disaster. Abadan became
tower at the Metropol Build- the focus of development by
ing exposed its cement blocks the British beginning in 1909
and steel beams while also as they built what became the
underscoring an ongoing world's largest oil refinery at
crisis in Iranian construction the time. Iran later national-
projects that has seen other ized its oil industry in the de-
disasters in this earthquake- cades before the 1979 Islamic
prone nation. Revolution.
Video from the initial col- Iraq's long war on Iran in
lapse Monday showed thick the 1980s saw Abadan and
dust rise over Abadan, a the surrounding region de-
crucial oil-producing city in them lightly, officials earlier the building's owner and its Interior Minister Ahmad Va- stroyed in the fighting. In
Khuzestan province, near said. general contractor had been hidi visited the site. the years since, fast private
Iran's border with Iraq. The Aerial drone footage aired arrested as well, though a Lawmakers opened a separate and state-linked construc-
Metropol Building included Tuesday showed the floors later report from the judicia- parliament inquiry into the tion projects rebuilt the area,
two towers, one already built had pancaked on top of each ry's Mizan news agency said case Tuesday, trying to de- amid complaints of shoddy
and the other under con- other, leaving a pile of dusty, Tuesday that the two men termine why the building on construction practices.
struction, though its bottom gray debris. A construction had been killed in the col- Amir Kabir Street collapsed The collapse reminded many
commercial floors had fin- crane stood still nearby as a lapse. The conflicting reports during a sandstorm. Howev- of the 2017 fire and collapse
ished and already had ten- single backhoe dug. State TV could not be immediately er, there was no major earth- of the iconic Plasco build-
ants. said at least 11 people had reconciled. quake recorded Monday near ing in Tehran that killed 26
On Tuesday, an emergency been killed. Authorities offered no imme- Abadan, some 660 kilome- people.
official interviewed on state An angry crowd at the site diate word on whether those ters (410 miles) southwest of Abadan previously has suf-
television suggested that chased and beat Abadan detained faced charges and it Tehran. fered through historic disas-
some 50 people may have Mayor Hossein Hamidpour wasn't immediately clear if A local journalist in Abadan ters as well. In 1978, an in-
been inside of the building at immediately after the col- lawyers represented them. had repeatedly raised con- tentionally set fire at Cinema
the time of the collapse, in- lapse, according to the semi- Iranian President Ebrahim cerns about the building's Rex in the city killed hun-
cluding people moving into official ILNA news agency Raisi offered his condolences construction, beginning from dreds. Anger over the blaze
its basement floors. Howev- and online videos. and appealed on the local au- last year, publishing images triggered unrest across Iran's
er, it wasn't clear if that figure Police later arrested Hamid- thorities to get to the bottom that he said showed sagging oil-rich regions and helped
included those already pulled pour and nine others, Ira- of the case. Iran's vice presi- floors at the first tower. He lead to the Islamic Revolu-
from the rubble. At least 39 nian media reported Tues- dent in charge of economic also alleged corruption in the tion that toppled Shah Mo-
people were injured, most of day. Initially, authorities said affairs, Mohsen Razaei, and building permits process. hammad Reza Pahlavi.

Boat carrying Rohingya fleeing Myanmar capsizes, killing 16

BANGKOK (AP) — At people were missing, the of- western coast, causing it to bark on hazardous voyages to seeks to tightly control the
least 16 people from Myan- ficials said. capsize, the statement said. the Muslim-majority coun- flow of information.
mar's Rohingya minority UNHCR, the U.N.'s refu- The Rohingya, a Muslim mi- tries of Malaysia and Indone- A local official, who also re-
have died after a storm cap- gee agency, expressed shock nority, have long been per- sia to seek a better living. quested anonymity for the
sized the boat they were trav- and sadness about the acci- secuted in Myanmar. More "Some 630 Rohingya have at- same reason, said most of the
eling on to seek refuge in an- dent in a statement and said than 700,000 Rohingya have tempted sea journeys across 50 people on board the boat
other country, officials and a at least 17 Rohingya, includ- fled the country to neighbor- the Bay of Bengal from Janu- were men under 30 years old.
recovery team member said ing children, had died. ing Bangladesh since August ary to May 2022," the UN- He said the bodies were bur-
Tuesday. The boat left the western state 2017 to escape the brutal HCR statement said, with ied and that the 35 survivors
There were 35 survivors of of Rakhine last Thursday and counterinsurgency campaign women and children mak- were taken away by the secu-
Saturday's accident that took encountered bad weather two of Myanmar's military fol- ing up 60% of those trying to rity forces.
place Saturday off Myanmar's days later off Ayeyarwaddy lowing an attack by a Ro- flee. Maung Maung Than, a
southwestern coast and four Region on Myanmar's south- hingya insurgent group in The statement added: "The spokesperson for the Ayeyar-
Rakhine State. risk of abuse at the hands of waddy Region government,
Myanmar's government has smugglers and the peril of the confirmed that the accident
denied accusations that secu- sea journey itself are both ex- happened but did not give
rity forces committed mass acerbated during prolonged further details.
rapes and killings and burned journeys, when a safe harbor "The latest tragedy shows
thousands of homes, but the for disembarkation cannot be once again the sense of des-
U.S. government recently la- found." peration being felt by Ro-
beled actions by the country's An Ayeyarwaddy Region hingya in Myanmar and in
military as genocide. resident said the 16 bodies, the region," Indrika Rat-
There are more than 100,000 including those of two young watte, UNHCR's director
Rohingya left in Myanmar, boys, were recovered near for Asia and the Pacific said
confined in squalid displace- Pathein township, about 300 in the agency's statement. "It
ment camps, along with kilometers (180 miles) west is shocking to see increasing
those living in crowded refu- of Yangon, Myanmar's largest numbers of children, women
gee camps in Bangladesh. city. He spoke on condition and men embarking on these
Groups of Rohingya from of anonymity because Myan- dangerous journeys and
camps in both countries em- mar's military government eventually losing their lives."