Death toll reaches 36 in Iran tower block collapse

TEHRAN — The death toll has risen to 36 from a tower block that collapsed in southwestern Iran last week, sparking angry protests, state media reports.

A large section of the 10-story Metropol building that was under construction in a busy street in the city of Abadan crashed to the ground on May 23, resulting in one of the country’s deadliest disasters in recent years.

“With the efforts of the search and rescue forces, this evening, the body of the 36th person was pulled out from under the rubble,” Abadan’s governor Ehsan Abbaspour is quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Five students were among the dead, said Masoud Hamidinejad, the head of Khuzestan’s department of education, according to IRNA.

The latest toll leaves only two people unaccounted for from the 38 authorities had previously estimated were missing in the collapse.