Iran says electricity fault cause of catastrophe at Tehran commercial building

Iran's interior minister said initial investigations has shown that electrical malfunction has been the initial cause of fire that razed the 17-story building in downtown Tehran last week, Tasnim news agency reported on Friday.

Experts are yet to make more comments on the incident, the Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli was quoted as saying.

According to the report, the rescue operation to find people stuck in the rubble of the building reached its final stages on Friday.

On Jan. 19, Tehran's mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf confirmed the death of 20 fire fighters in the collapse of the 54-year-old building with 600 commercial shops.

Some 25 people are believed to have been inside the steel-and-concrete building when it collapsed, Tasnim said.

Local media also reported that over 200 people were also injured in the incident.

At 8:00 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) on Jan. 19, the fire started from the eighth and ninth floors of the building located on Jomhouri Eslami street, in the downtown area of the capital, and soon it was spread to the upper floors, ending in the collapse of the building after four hours.

The residents of buildings in the neighborhood have been warned by the police and the rescue operators to leave the buildings.

Also, nearby buildings including the embassies of Turkey and Britain were evacuated.

Authorities at Tehran's governor's office have ruled out terrorism, Press TV said. Endit