TEHRAN, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed and 11 others injured on Sunday as a number of semi-finished buildings collapsed in Iran's capital Tehran, local media reported.
The incident occurred in the morning when the Tehran Municipality staff, backed by the provincial police forces, were supervising the demolishing of an "unsafe" building in District 19, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.
The knocking down of the building caused the collapses of adjacent five buildings, which also have not met safety requirements, leaving four police officers and two municipality staffers buried under the debris, the ISNA said, citing a statement by the Tehran Police Information Center.
The rescue teams are working to pull people from the rubble, the statement said, adding four have so far been rescued.
In separate remarks, Jalal Maleki, the spokesman of the Tehran Fire Department, said the incident was reported at 12:24 p.m. local time (0854 GMT), and rescue teams, backed by cranes and debris removal equipment, were immediately sent to the scene.
He noted that one of the buildings collapsed completely and the others partially collapsed, adding the buildings were under construction with nobody living inside.
Maleki said three people died after being pulled out of the rubble, adding it remains unclear how many people were buried beneath the debris.
In remarks to ISNA, Babak Namakshenas, head of the Tehran Police Information Center, confirmed two of the victims as police officers.
Mohammad Esmaeil Tavakoli, head of Tehran's medical emergency organization, said 11 others were injured in the incident, of which eight were transferred to the hospital, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported. ■
