MASHHAD, Aug. 25 (MNA) – A water heater has exploded in Mashhad in the country's north, causing three buildings to collapse and killing 10 people. </s> "As of now, ten people were killed in this incident," Mehdi Rezai, the deputy head of the Mashhad fire department, told the ISNA news agency, adding that five wounded people had been hospitalized.

Rezai also noted that 15 neighboring buildings had been damaged by the boiler blast that caused the collapse. The official added that the authorities were working to determine the reason behind the incident.

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The city of Mashhad is located in the northeastern part of the country, some 900 kilometers (550 miles), northeast of the capital Tehran. </s> TEHRAN: Ten people were killed and five wounded after a boiler exploded in a residential area of the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. Three residential buildings were completely destroyed in the blast and 15 houses in the area were damaged, according to Fars. A picture posted by Fars on Twitter showed rescue workers digging through the rubble of a building. </s> Ten people were killed in a building collapse caused by a water heater explosion in northern Iran on Saturday, according to local media.

Five other people were injured in the incident in the northern city of Mashhad, Iran’s TASMIN news agency reported.

Local reports said the heater had exploded, causing three buildings to go down.

The cause of the heater explosion remains unknown.

Many Iranians use gas-consuming water heaters in their homes and similar explosions had taken place in the past because of gas leaks. </s> TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian media are reporting that a water heater has exploded in Mashhad in the country's north, causing a building to collapse and killing 10 people.

Five others were injured and hospitalized in the Saturday incident, according to the reports, which did not elaborate. It was one the most deadly such incidents in Iran.

Many Iranians use gas-consuming storage water heaters and similar cases in the past have been blamed on gas leakages from the heaters and a disregard for safety measures.

Saturday's report from the YJC.ir news website says the explosion happened early in Mashhad, some 900 kilometers, or 550 miles, northeast of the capital Tehran.

It said six of the victims died immediately at the site following the collapse of the two-story building and four died in the hospital. </s> At least two people died when an earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck near Iran’s Shia Muslim holy city of Mashhad on Wednesday, local media reported.

The quake struck at 10:39 am (0609 GMT) around 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Iran’s second city in an area called Sepidsang.

Two people have been reported dead and four injured, local officials told state television, with four villages said to have been badly damaged.

Rescue teams have been sent to affected areas, where some 20 aftershocks have been reported.

“It was horrible. It made a lot of noise. Everything was shaking,” a Mashhad resident told AFP by phone.

Iran lies on a major fault line and sees frequent earthquakes. The most recent was in January, when four people died in southern Iran.

A 2003 quake killed at least 31,000 people and all but destroyed the historic city of Bam in the southeast of the country. </s> A boiler explosion in Iran has killed 10 people and injured five more, destroying three residential buildings in the blast.

The tragic incident took place in a residential area of the city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran, Fars News reported in a Twitter post today.

As well as the three residential buildings that were completely destroyed in the blast, another 15 houses in the area were damaged.

A picture posted by Fars on Twitter showed rescue workers digging through the rubble of a building.

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We're also on Facebook /dailymirror - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Mirror Online. </s> TEHRAN, Iran — A high-rise building in Tehran engulfed by fire collapsed on Thursday, killing at least 30 firefighters and injuring some 75 people, state media reported.

The disaster struck the Plasco building, an iconic structure in central Tehran just north of the Iranian capital’s sprawling bazaar. Firefighters, soldiers and other emergency responders dug through the rubble, looking for survivors.

Iranian authorities did not immediately release definitive casualty figures, which is common in unfolding disasters.

Iran’s state-run Press TV announced the firefighters’ deaths, without giving a source for the information. Local Iranian state television said 30 civilians were injured in the disaster, while the state-run IRNA news agency said 45 firefighters had been injured.

Firefighters battled the blaze for several hours before the collapse. The fire appeared to be the most intense in the building’s upper floors, home to garment workshops where tailors cook for themselves and use old kerosene heaters for warmth in winter.

Police tried to keep out shopkeepers and others wanting to rush back in to collect their valuables.

Tehran’s mayor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said there were “no ordinary civilians” trapped under the rubble. However, witnesses said some people had slipped through the police cordon and gone back into the building.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli to investigate and report the cause of the incident as soon as possible, IRNA reported.

He also ordered the ministry to ensure the injured were cared for and to take immediate action to compensate those affected by the disaster.

The building came down in a matter of seconds, shown live on state television, which had begun an interview with a journalist at the scene. A side of the building came down first, tumbling perilously close to a firefighter perched on a ladder and spraying water on the blaze.

A thick plume of brown smoke rose over the site after the collapse. Onlookers wailed in grief.

Among those watching the disaster unfold was Masoumeh Kazemi, who said she rushed to the building as her two sons and a brother had jobs in the garment workshops occupying the upper floors of the high-rise.

“I do not know where they are now,” Kazemi said, crying.

In a nearby intersection, Abbas Nikkhoo stood with tears in his eyes.

“My nephew was working in a workshop there,” he said. “He has been living with me since moving to Tehran last year from the north of the country in hopes of finding a job.”

Jalal Maleki, a fire department spokesman, earlier told Iranian state television that 10 firehouses responded to the blaze, which was first reported around 8 a.m. He later said authorities visited the building “many times” to warn them about conditions there.

“They stacked up material on staircases, which was very awful, although we warned them many times,” he said.

Late Thursday afternoon, another fire broke out at a building next to the collapsed tower, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. Firefighters worked to put it out.

Several embassies are located near the building. Turkey’s state-run news agency, reporting from Tehran, said the Turkish Embassy was evacuated as a precaution, though it sustained no damage in the collapse.

The Plasco building was an iconic presence on the Tehran skyline.

The 17-storey tower was built in the early 1960s by Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian and named after his plastics manufacturing company. It was the tallest building in the city at the time of its construction.

Elghanian was tried on charges that included espionage and executed in the months after the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought the current ruling system to power — a move that prompted many members of the country’s longstanding Jewish community to flee.

The tower is attached to a multistorey shopping mall featuring a sky-lit atrium and a series of turquoise fountains. It wasn’t immediately clear if the mall was damaged. </s> A high-rise in downtown Tehran, Iran, caught fire and collapsed on Thursday, killing firefighters who were working inside the building.

Reports suggest at least 20 firefighters died, and many more people — including firefighters and civilians — were injured.

The horrifying scene was "inadvertently shown live on state television," The Associated Press reports, and left other firefighters and eyewitnesses crying in the streets.

More people are believed to be trapped in the rubble, NPR's Peter Kenyon reports, and rescue operations are ongoing.

The 17-story building that collapsed, the Plasco building, is the oldest high-rise in Iran, he says.

"The building was opened more than 50 years ago and housed retail outlets and a large number of textile manufacturing shops, according to several Iranian media," Peter reports. "Some of the surrounding buildings were damaged in the collapse."

The AP reports that authorities said they had "repeatedly warned tenants about blocking stairwells with fabric" that could be flammable and could block escape routes. Here's more from the wire service:



"Firefighters, soldiers and other emergency responders dug through the debris into the night, looking for survivors. While it was not clear how many people were in the steel-and-concrete building, witnesses said many had slipped through a police cordon while the fire burned to go back inside for their belongings. " 'They asked us ... using loudspeakers to evacuate the building, but some people went inside again, saying their precious documents, their bank checks, their entire life was in their shops,' said witness Masoud Hosseini. 'They went inside to fetch those documents. I felt like they cared about their belongings, checks and money more than their lives. " 'Firefighters went inside to bring them out, and then suddenly the building collapsed,' Hosseini said."



The mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said the firefighters who died in the collapse were "martyrs," Reuters reports.

Here's more from the news service:



"The semi-official Tasnim news agency said troops had been sent to help dig through the ruins. It said one of the first firefighters to be reached had demanded to be let back inside to save his colleagues. "The agency quoted an official in the Tehran governor's office as saying an electrical short-circuit had caused the fire, but there was no immediate confirmation of this. "President Hassan Rouhani ordered an immediate investigation and compensation for those affected."



Search dogs were looking for survivors, and the rescue operation could last for more than two days, Reuters says, citing Iranian state TV.
The collapse of three buildings in Mashhad, Iran, kills ten people and injures nine others.