On the morning of January 19 (local time in Iran), the Plasco Building collapsed after it caught fire in downtown of Teheran, the capital city of the country. The tragedy ended up with death of at least 30 firefighters and injury of 70 people.

Plasco Building collapsed after it caught fire

When the fire broke out, 10 fire stations nearby made quick response and sent about 200 firefighters in an attempt to extinguish the fire. Immediately after receiving the news, XCMG sent a crane and 4 staff to the site for rescue.

XCMG QY130 crane working on the site

XCMG staff and emergency-response team discussing the rescue plan

According to Tang Guang, General Manager of XCMG Iran, “Immediately after receiving the phone call at about 9:30 in the morning, we organized a service team, which took QY130, the largest-tonnage truck crane serving in Iranian market, to the site to help firefighters and rescue workers lift heavy-weight items out of the debris. At the same time, we arranged a few loaders and excavators to stand by in the adjacency of the site.”

XCMG staff and emergency-response team discussing the rescue plan

After the fire broke out, people in the building were evacuated. However, the building structure was seriously damaged by the fierce flame, which caused the building to collapse in a few seconds. It was reported that level 8-9 caught fire at first. Then the fire spread to other levels and burned for a few hours, leading to the building collapse in the end. When the collapse happened, there were still people in the building. According to Iranian state TV, “We are afraid many people are trapped in the debris because when fire and collapse happened, shop assistants and customers were still in the building”. And the trapped people included firefighters and some merchants.

(Online video at http://v.ifeng.com/news/world/201701/01715e13-2467-4ecc-a66b-f7995b2e1f22.shtml)

The 17-level building was built in the 1960s as the landmark in Teheran, the capital city of Iran. Also as the first high-rise building in Teheran, it had a shopping mall and some clothing shops in it.