5 Killed in Gas Explosion

Five people died and 7 people were injured in a deadly explosion that destroyed a residential building in Khalij-e-Fars Street in downtown Tehran on Tuesday. 

“The blast occurred after gas leakage from an old pipeline and destroyed the two-storey building with three residences at 5:55 pm,” IRNA quoted Seyed Jalal Maleki, spokesman of the Tehran Firefighting Department, as saying.

Four rescue teams from different firefighting stations were sent to the spot to rescue people trapped under the debris, he said. Seven people were pulled out of the rubble including a nine-year-old boy. Six badly injured people were hospitalized at Shahid Fayyazbakhsh, Yaft Abad and Motahhari hospitals. 

Among the dead were three women, a 38-day-old baby and the 9-year-old boy, said Hassan Abbasi, head of public relations at Emergency Medical Services (EMS). 

Eight medical emergency teams treated the injured at the scene. Investigation is on to probe how and why the gas leak occurred.

Last June, after a gas explosion occurred when drilling equipment at the project site near the Shahran Subway Station hit an 18-inch gas pipeline, experts said the city’s old gas infrastructure is also to be blamed in which one person was killed. The blast caused a massive crater 100-meter wide and 50-meter deep. 

At the time, Seyed Jafar Tashakkori Hashemi, deputy mayor had said, “It is clear that much of Tehran’s aging gas infrastructure needs to be replaced, regardless of what happened” in the Shahran incident.

Some of the gas pipes beneath the city streets go back a long time ago. Most of the gas leaks are very small but every leak is potentially dangerous and the authorities need to take action sooner rather than later before more gas blasts kill and maim the residents.