ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Thirty firefighters are reported to have been killed and 75 people injured when a burning building in the Iranian capital collapsed.

Iranian State TV reported the deaths and said other people are still believed to be trapped under rubble.

The Plasco building is an iconic, mainly residential, high-rise block in central Theran, situated just north of the capital's sprawling bazaar.

Scores of firefighters fought the blaze for several hours after the building caught fire at around 8am local time (4.30am GMT) on Thursday.

The tower came down in a matter of seconds, shown live on state television, which had begun an interview with a journalist at the scene.

A side of the building came down first, tumbling perilously close to a firefighter perched on a ladder and spraying water on the blaze.

A thick plume of brown smoke rose over the site.

Iran's state-run Press TV said people were believed to be trapped inside the rubble.

Jalal Maleki, a fire department spokesman, earlier told Iranian state television that 10 fire stations responded to the blaze.

The Plasco building was an iconic presence on the Tehran skyline.

The 17-storey tower was built in the early 1960s by Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian and named after his plastics manufacturing company. It was the tallest building in the city at the time of its construction.

The tower is attached to a multistory shopping mall featuring a sky-lit atrium and a series of turquoise-colored fountains.

Additional reporting by Associated Press