Plasco; No News on the Fate of the Missing

The newspaper Etemad has dedicated a photo to the ongoing search operations for the missing persons in the fire and collapse of the Plasco building in Tehran, reporting under the headline "The Eyes of a Nation Waiting": "One hundred hours have passed since the debris removal operations began, and there is still no news on the fate of the missing." According to this newspaper, "Four days have passed since the Plasco incident, and the spokesperson for Tehran's Fire Department reports that debris removal operations will continue for another four days. Now, large iron pieces of the Plasco skeleton have been collected and transferred to another location with heavy machinery. Firefighters are working in three shifts, and fire hoses continue to pour water on the flames." Etemad writes that "on the first day of the incident, the mayor of Tehran, who took charge of managing this crisis, announced that 20 firefighters had been martyred in this incident." The newspaper continues: "However, shortly after this news, the spokesperson for Tehran's Fire Department denied it and stated that there is still no data on the number of firefighters who died in this incident. Now, four days after the incident, the number of fatalities reported by the spokesperson for the Fire Department is three." The newspaper also recalls that "many statements about the main cause of the incident and the ignition of the initial fire have been made by the rescued shopkeepers and firefighters." Etemad adds: "Shopkeepers said that on the morning of the incident, a mourning ceremony was held on the eighth floor of the building, and while lighting the gas stove, this incident occurred, while others claimed that the building caught fire and collapsed for security reasons. However, immediately, Mohsen Hamdani, the security deputy of Tehran's governorate, stated: 'The claim that the cause of the fire was security-related is not true at all; this fire is completely natural.'" The Farhikhtegan newspaper, while publishing an interview with "a firefighter who, along with his two brothers, is searching for their fourth brother," wrote: "The efforts of the three firefighter brothers Reza, Hassan, and Firouz Mehrvarz to find any trace of their younger brother Nasser continue." Reza, the eldest brother at 45 years old, who has 22 years of service in the fire department, was the operations commander during the firefighting of the Plasco building and told the Farhikhtegan newspaper: "On Friday morning, I was dispatched as an inspector, and my younger brother Nasser, who was the commander of Station 24, was with me. Firouz, who is the commander of Station 73, and Hassan from Station 60 were not on shift, so they were not present in the operation. Five minutes before the debris fell, I went inside the building for inspection. My 22 years of experience told me that firefighters should leave the building. The old building was still ablaze after three hours of firefighting with water. From the inspection of the building, I realized that the building could not withstand and would soon collapse. I even told Nasser about this. Before leaving the building, I spoke with Nasser for a moment. I told him that if this incident happened elsewhere in the world, commanders would definitely order the evacuation of the building to ensure that no one would be trapped under the debris in case of a collapse. Nasser calmed me down and asked me to inspect the building from outside; otherwise, I too would undoubtedly be buried under tons of molten iron and stone." Reza Mehrvarz said: "I reported that the building is not safe, but they did not give an order to evacuate the firefighters. Inspectors only have the right to make recommendations to the commanders. I made my recommendation. They could have ordered the firefighters to conduct the operation from outside the building, but they did not do this." The Shahrvand newspaper, in a report titled "The Unknown Missing," wrote about the ambiguous fate of four workers trapped under the Plasco debris: "When the fire engulfed that giant old building and left heavy debris behind, the names of four workers also appeared on the list of missing persons in this incident. Ghasem, Habib, Haidar, and Mohsen are four workers who, each with several years of experience working in the Plasco building, have an unknown fate trapped under tons of debris. However, their families remain hopeful. They have been sitting in front of the Plasco building for four days, waiting for news." This newspaper noted that the family members of one of these workers named "Ghasem" are the most certain, stating: "Ghasem's name was also in the text message sent from the building's engine room. A message that reported the survival and entrapment of these four workers in the engine room. This has made Ghasem's family and the three other workers' families very hopeful about the survival of the victims. They are sure that Ghasem is trapped down there and waiting for help. They, along with the three other families, have not moved from in front of the Plasco debris for four days. Time passes slowly, and their eyes are waiting for hopeful news, but for four days, a heavy sorrow has enveloped Ferdowsi Street." Ali Abdi is a worker who managed to save himself just seconds before the debris fell. He was trying to escape the building with his cousin Ghasem when suddenly Ali realized Ghasem was not beside him. He told Shahrvand: "We were 16 workers working in that building. Some were guards, some were maintenance workers, and some were cleaners. Among us, Ghasem, Habib, Haidar, and Mohsen were left under the debris. One of them had sent a text message to our colleague saying they were trapped in the engine room, but that was the only message, and no further news came. We could not find out their fate. Mohsen, the 60-year-old maintenance worker, Habib, the 55-year-old cleaner, and Haidar, the 35-year-old cleaner, were all missing now. Mohsen had retired and received a salary of 700,000 tomans a month. Habib had worked there for seven years. Haidar had been working there for five or six years. Now there is no news of them. Their families go to the Plasco building every day and, based on that text message, hope they are alive." The Iran newspaper reported on its front page about Hassan Rouhani's order for "the reconstruction of Plasco" and "the employment of shopkeepers," stating: "The president has tasked a group of ministers and officials to make necessary decisions regarding the reconstruction and job opportunities for the businesses and workers employed in this building; such as insurance coverage, provision of working capital, tax exemptions, and provision of suitable space for the resumption of business activities, and to present matters that require the approval of the cabinet to the government meeting on Wednesday." According to this newspaper, Hassan Rouhani "has instructed the Minister of Interior to identify vulnerable buildings in Tehran and take necessary measures for safety, and also stated that a specialized task force will soon be assigned to prepare a national report on the causes and factors leading to the incident." Journalist Ehsan Badaghi, in a note in the Iran newspaper titled "Filtering Criticism in State TV," wrote: "If the logic of state TV for giving a platform to supporters of the mayor and preventing his critics from expressing their views is to prolong the crisis and provide an opportunity to resolve it, this approach can be compared to the media's approach five weeks ago regarding a similar incident, namely the train collision in Semnan. At that time, in the early hours of the incident, critical reports and discussions began on state TV, all of which blamed the Ministry of Roads for the incident." The Kayhan newspaper, on its front page titled "The Message of Plasco: Action and Implementation Instead of Political Disputes," wrote: "The most important lesson from this disaster should be to set aside pointless political wars and to unite efforts to create a safe country. Tehran is the capital of Iran and can be paralyzed by a major disaster like an earthquake, resulting in a political and security crisis for Iran. Instead of all disputes and controversies, instead of all extravagances and wastefulness, and in short, instead of all missed opportunities, a suitable and intelligent measure should be quickly devised so that in the event of a disaster, we are not forced to target each other and blame one another. Otherwise, any action would be a mistake and far from chivalry and honor." The Mardomsalari newspaper reported on its front page about "Seyed Mohammad Khatami's complaint against General Naqdi," coinciding with such a headline about the statements of judicial officials regarding the prohibition of mentioning the name "Mohammad Khatami," the former reformist president, in the media. The Shargh newspaper published the same news with the headline "Complaint Against General Naqdi" and in the text of the news refrained from mentioning Mohammad Khatami's name, writing: "The spokesperson for the judiciary yesterday in his 107th press conference stated that regarding whether the complaint of the reformist president against General Naqdi has been registered in the prosecutor's office, he said: 'Yes, this complaint has been registered and is under investigation in the prosecutor's office.'" This newspaper reminded that "on January 19, Mohammad Reza Anjam, the lawyer of the reformist president, announced the complaint of his client against General Naqdi, stating: 'General Naqdi recently claimed in an interview with Shargh newspaper that Mr. Khatami received money from the king of Saudi Arabia for his political activities. The Shargh reporter told him that this issue had been denied before, but General Naqdi responded that you can put me on trial, and I will answer there.'" According to this newspaper, Khatami's lawyer said: "Since this claim has no basis, I have obtained permission from Mr. Khatami to raise the complaint against General Naqdi in the media. Nearly two weeks ago, a criminal complaint titled dissemination of falsehoods and public disturbance was registered against General Naqdi in the fourth branch of the media prosecutor's office." The Vatan-e-Emruz newspaper, with the headline "Rejecting Fereydoun" and a photo of Hossein Fereydoun on its front page, accused Hassan Rouhani's brother of being connected to a major bank defaulter. This newspaper wrote: "A major bank defaulter has been arrested. Rasoul Daniyalzadeh, who had left Iran, was arrested upon his return to the country and handed over to the judiciary. Rasoul Daniyalzadeh's debt exceeds 2 trillion tomans. Reports indicate multiple privileges that Daniyalzadeh has gained through some political connections with bank executives. This multi-billionaire from Semnan initially worked in the housing sector but has managed to obtain several thousand billion tomans in illegal bank loans through some political connections in recent years." The Vatan-e-Emruz newspaper emphasized that "Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, stated that the connection between Rasoul Daniyalzadeh and Hossein Fereydoun is evident" and even quoted Mohseni Ejei as saying that Rasoul Daniyalzadeh "has been arrested, and investigations are ongoing, and his connection with Hossein Fereydoun is also quite apparent, but the nature of this connection and their actions are not yet clear, and we must wait for the outcome of the investigations in this case." The Qanoon newspaper also published the statements of the judiciary spokesperson on Sunday with the headline "From the Issuance of Babak Zanjani's Death Sentence to the Complaint Against General Naqdi," reporting that Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei announced the "confirmation of the conviction" of Nazanin Zaghari, an Iranian-British citizen, and Farhad Abdolsaleh, both sentenced to five years in prison, and said: "Mr. Foad Sadeghi and Ali Ghazali," both former managers of the Baztab website, have been sentenced to imprisonment, and their sentences have been confirmed. In this context, the death of two child laborers among the flames, the arrest of two motorcycle-riding girls in Dezful, the detention of a "major bank defaulter," the changing of the playing field of "proxy forces"; the war against the people in the streets of Iran, the responsibility of the opposition and the possibility of radicalizing Iranian society, the death of the last Mossad representative in Tehran amid the Iran crisis, 1300 hours of internet outages; Witkaf: a horrific massacre occurred during the protests in Iran, the shadow of war over Tehran; "Trump is looking for decisive military options against Iran," the death of the last Mossad representative in Tehran amid the Iran crisis, Trump emphasizes "stopping executions in Iran": we do not know what will happen in the future, Trump says if the Islamic Republic attempts to assassinate him, "it will be wiped off the face of the earth."