January 31-2014
Police have arrested two Tehran Fire Department officials on charges of negligence that led to the deaths of two women who plummeted from the fifth floor of a factory during a blaze last week, the state news agency reports.
News reports said the Fire Department had a ladder truck at the scene that could reach the women, but firefighters were unable to extend the ladder. Another ladder truck was summoned but it arrived after the two women, unable to hold on to the burning building, had plunged to their deaths.
Photos show one of the women had climbed out a window and was clutching the exterior framework of the building on Jomhuri (formerly Shah) Avenue. The state news agency said the framework was aluminum that became too hot for her to hold onto as the flames spread.
After news of the deaths spread, President Rohani ordered an investigation. The fire put the spotlight on government accountability for what some believe was a case of official negligence.
The women who died were Nasrin Foroutani, 44, who was seen in the photos, and Azar Haghnazari, 60.
At least one member of the Tehran City Council, Mohsen Sarkhou, has demanded the resignation of Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, although the councilman did not explain what linked the mayor to the ladder truck.
Relatives of the victims complained to the Sharq daily that no one from the city government contacted the families to express sympathy, a common complaint in Iran after tragedies.
Jalal Maleki, the Fire Department’s spokesperson, described what happened to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA): “At 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, January 19, the Tehran Fire Department received a call about a fire in a five-story building that housed a clothing manufacturing shop.” He was quoted as saying the victims “unfortunately did not heed the warnings and requests of the firefighters, and jumped.”
But Iran, the state newspaper, quoted Maleki as saying something different. “Several fire trucks were dispatched to the incident location. Twenty-five individuals were trapped in flames in different parts of the building. As a result of the fire, two of the women who worked in this shop were hanging from the windows of the fifth floor, and, because they were unable to maintain a solid grip, they fell and lost their lives. Ladders were immediately set up in proper spots and another eight people who were about to fall were saved. Another 15 individuals who were trapped in the building’s stairways were saved by the firefighters. Three firefighters were hurt and were transferred to medical centers.”
Eyewitnesses, however, told yet another story. In a news clip published by Jam-e-Jam Online, an unidentified Fire Department representative said he was “embarrassed to say that, despite daily checkups, the ladder in the first fire truck dispatched to the scene did not open,… possibly due to the truck’s sudden shakes and the stress and the speed of getting to the scene.”
This firefighter said it took two minutes for a second truck to arrive and this time the ladder did open, but the two women fell to their deaths before the second ladder could reach them.
Mohsen Akbarzadeh, the son of the older woman who died, told Sharq he received a call from his mother from inside the building, asking him to come to her help. “I got myself there quickly. I saw that black smoke and huge flames were coming out of the building’s windows. Some were looking down from the windows and were asking for help. Two women had climbed out of the windows. People had gathered below and the fire trucks were getting ready on the street.”
He said, “I heard from the crowd that the first fire truck had been unable to raise its ladder. A little later, I realized that one of the women who had climbed out of the windows was my mother. I kept crying and yelling, asking them to help her, but no one could hear me. After some time, Ms. Foroutani fell, but my mother held on for more than five minutes, hanging on.
“One of the firefighters started hosing water on the building. Instead of pointing the hose at the flames, he was pointing it at my mother, soaking her. But the fire was on the other side of the building. Ultimately, my mother wasn’t able to hold on any longer and she fell, too.”
Haghnazari no longer worked at the clothing workshop, but had returned the day of the fire to collect her back pay.
