Building collapse in Iran

The death toll from a 10-story commercial building collapse in Iran’s southern city of Abadan has grown to 19, according to a local official quoted by the semi-official news agency ISNA on Thursday.

So far, 37 people have been injured and are being treated in hospitals, according to Ehsan Abbaspour, deputy governor of Khuzestan Province.

According to Abbaspour and the article, over 2,000 employees are participating in the rescue effort, which will continue until the last fatality is evacuated.

According to the judiciary’s Mizan news agency, ten persons were detained in the aftermath of the disaster, which also killed the building’s owner and contractor.

The construction site is on a busy thoroughfare in downtown Abadan, surrounded by commercial and medical structures.