Parliamentarian: Engineering Organization Must Be Accountable for Metropol Tower Collapse

The head of the Legal and Judicial Commission of the Iranian Parliament introduced the Engineering Organization as the primary accountable body in the case of the Metropol Tower collapse in Abadan.

Eleven days after the collapse of the Metropol Tower, which left dozens dead and wounded, President Ibrahim Raisi traveled to Abadan.

Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, a parliamentarian and commission chair, stated on Friday, June 3, that the “supervisors” of the Abadan Metropol project played a “primary and essential role” in the building’s collapse, reiterating previous claims that additional floors were added to the structure despite repeated warnings from the organization’s supervising engineers.

In the first days following the incident, a document was published on Twitter revealing warnings from supervising engineers about multiple defects in the Metropol building. In the same document, the supervising engineer wrote that work should be halted until the defects and shortcomings were remedied.

Mr. Ghazanfarabadi also described the “authority responsible for assessing safety and monitoring the maintenance and improvement of building safety” as undefined, and added without providing details: “Due to some entities failing to perform their duties, tragic incidents such as the Abadan Metropol collapse occur, but after some time the matter is forgotten.”

Following the collapse of the Metropol Tower in Abadan, with at least 38 victims identified so far, local journalists reported that local media and social networks had repeatedly warned about the corruption of Hossein Abdolbaqi, the tower’s owner, and his connections with municipal and political officials, as well as disregard for construction and safety principles.

In the early days of the incident, primary responsibility was directed at the Abdolbaqi Holding, but gradually responsible officials revealed that other competent institutions were also involved in the incident.

Ahmad Vahidi, Interior Minister, acknowledged violations in the construction of the Abadan Metropol Tower, stating that reports of violations “were not given attention.”

MohammadReza Eskandari, head of the Arvand Free Zone Organization, also stated in a television program that the organization corresponded with the municipality about some violations in the Metropol, but none of them received responses, and the judiciary also did not respond to the free zone organization’s report on these violations.

Among 13 individuals arrested in connection with the tower collapse, the current mayor and two former mayors of Abadan are included.

Meanwhile, on Friday, June 3, Ibrahim Raisi, President of Iran, traveled to Abadan and visited the site of the collapsed tower.

In a video released from this visit, one of the citizens directly tells him that nobody “pays attention” to the people of this city and asks him to “hear the cry” of Abadan’s people.

MohammadHossein Ahmadi Shahroudi, representative of Khuzestan in the Assembly of Experts, also expressed doubt about whether the building’s owner was killed during the structure’s collapse, saying: “Ultimately, a committee must be formed to investigate these damages and provide compensation… They must say who is responsible and accountable for this unjustly spilled blood and these assets, it may take many years.”

Source: Radio Farda