Half of the Plasco Rubble Has Been Removed

Rescue workers and firefighters at the Plasco building site have entered their fourth day of rubble removal and recovering the bodies of victims. The spokesperson for the rescue group states that 50 percent of the rubble has been cleared. Jalal Maleki, spokesperson for the crisis management team of the Plasco incident, told ISNA news agency on the morning of February 3 that with half of the rubble removed, searches for the bodies of firefighters and other citizens continue. Mr. Maleki emphasized that after cutting the skeleton and removing the metal structure of the Plasco complex, operations could speed up, but he added that this situation in the western section is still slow due to the building facade collapsing onto the rubble. According to this rescue group's spokesperson, "it seems that operations will continue in the coming days." Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the mayor of Tehran, has announced a more precise timeline, stating that the rubble removal will take "one week." Mr. Qalibaf has faced criticism for his performance, including for a lack of firefighting equipment and for traveling to Qom at the same time as the fire began and the subsequent collapse of the Plasco building. On Sunday morning, a senior operational official from the Iranian Red Crescent stated regarding the "signals" received that might indicate the presence of live individuals under the rubble that "the signals received were false, and there are no living individuals under the rubble." A day earlier, rescue officials had reported receiving signals from under the rubble, and Mehr news agency had even reported the survival of "four individuals." However, the Red Crescent official stated on February 3 that "one of our problems at the incident site is that to receive signals, complete silence must be maintained." Work at the site of the collapsed structure remains complicated. In the southern section of the building, fire has flared up again. Mehr news agency described the intensity of the re-emerging fire over the past 24 hours as "unprecedented" and stated that "the flames were visible from a distance." Simultaneously, it seems that digging and working in tunnels to reach areas where the bodies of victims are likely trapped has not yielded much result. Jalal Maleki stated that tunnels have been dug from adjacent buildings, "but so far, no encouraging news has been released from it." The head of the Iranian Red Crescent rescue organization stated that five devices and rescue dogs are present at the site, but despite the dug tunnels, they have still "not been able to take action." "It is an eight-meter tunnel; we went, reached behind the door, opened the door along the way, there was one way, at the end of the corridor is a place where we suspect someone might be. We do not know how many more hours it will take to reach that area." The news agency ISNA published the account of one of the firefighters at the site. According to this rescuer, he and his colleagues have been trying to clear a path from under the rubble. This firefighter, whose name was not mentioned, said, "We need to reach the engine room. We have dug about 20 meters of tunnel from three different places, but none of them have worked." He added, "Now we have reached four meters away from them, but because the ceiling has collapsed a lot and is completely down, we have a path the size of a cat along the wall. The rescue dog came, the police dog came, but they could not enter. It is an eight-meter tunnel; we went, reached behind the door, opened the door along the way, there was one way, at the end of the corridor is a place where we suspect someone might be. We do not know how many more hours it will take to reach that area." Official sources have so far confirmed the discovery and removal of the bodies of two firefighters. It has been reported that at least 25 people are trapped at the site. Of this number, based on assessments, 15 are firefighters and 10 are other citizens. The 50-year-old Plasco building caught fire on Thursday morning and collapsed hours later while rescuers were trying to extinguish it. In recent days, a large group of people has paid tribute to the firefighters. Citizens in the areas surrounding Plasco have lit candles or laid flowers. In other regions and cities, messages of sympathy and flowers have been seen in front of fire stations. Social media is also filled with messages calling firefighters and rescuers heroes. In this regard, the death of 16 firefighters in the Plasco incident has been confirmed; "25 people are trapped under the rubble." The Plasco incident serves as a warning for similar incidents in a capital that has only "120 safe buildings."