Tehran Metro Claims Another Victim: One Dead, One Injured

Just a few hours after the death of a firefighter and an Afghan worker due to a metro collapse at Qiyam Square, falling concrete blocks in the Shahid Mohalati Metro in Tehran also resulted in one worker's death and another's injury. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, on Tuesday afternoon, October 19, concrete blocks stored in the Shahid Mohalati Metro fell on workers who were in the process of moving them. In this incident, one worker was killed instantly and another was taken to the hospital. Earlier on Tuesday morning, a collapse of part of the surface at Qiyam Square in Tehran led to the death of a firefighter who entered a hole created by this collapse to rescue an Afghan worker buried under the rubble. This Afghan worker also lost his life in the incident. In recent months, Tehran has witnessed ground subsidence and tunnel collapses related to the metro, resulting in several fatalities. For instance, on Wednesday, September 17, a collapse at the Kian Shahr Metro station in southeastern Tehran resulted in at least four workers' deaths and six others injured. The day after that, reports emerged of a partial collapse of a wall at the Kouhsar Metro station in Tehran, but the Tehran Metro stated that 'only a stone fell on one worker's shoulder and there was no collapse.' On the morning of June 28, a severe gas pipe explosion in the Kouhsar area in northern Tehran resulted in 'two workers killed' and five injured, with electricity, gas, telephone, mobile phone, and water services in the area cut off for some time. Ismail Najjar, head of the National Disaster Management Organization, stated on September 8 that the metro was responsible for this incident, saying that 'digging the metro caused soil subsidence and pressure on gas pipes, water pipes, and electrical cables, ultimately leading to ruptures in these lines and pipe breaks and fires.' Meanwhile, Ahmad Hakimipour, a reformist member of the Tehran City Council, noted on his Instagram that 'construction operations in the city require more careful technical work than the speed of action.' Mehdi Chamran, head of the Tehran City Council, also mentioned on Friday, September 19, that 'the council will take a more serious approach to these incidents' in response to public concerns about the 'numerous incidents' in Tehran's metro construction sites. Despite these statements, the management of the Tehran Metro has yet to respond seriously to this issue.