An area of about 200 square meters collapsed on Friday morning in one of the major streets in Iran’s capital city Tehran.

Officials have attributed the incident to land subsidence.

According to reports, the incident took place at the beginning of Kargar Street on the northern side of Qazvin Square in central Tehran.

As the asphalt of the floor of the street collapsed, the remains of an old public bathroom and toilet were found. No information has been released yet regarding the age and history of the discoveries.

The incident resulted in the closure of the street and the disconnection of water and electricity in the area for several hours.

Over the past years, land subsidence has turned into a serious crisis in various parts of Iran.

Experts warn that the current land subsidence situation in Iran puts the lives of more than 39 million people at risk.

Several factors have caused the situation to reach breaking point, including dam construction, climate change, inefficient water consumption by agriculture and industries, and the use of underground aquifers as sources for illegal agricultural water extraction wells.

In March 2023, Ali Beitollahi, heading the disaster task force on the issue at the Road, Housing and Urban Development Research Center of Iran, said the approximate area of subsidence zones in the country has reached 18.5 million hectares, almost 11% of Iran’s total area.

Back in August, Iran International obtained documents revealing that the Islamic Republic officials were aware of dangerous land subsidence but were unwilling to share it with the public.

According to a leaked confidential letter from Iran’s National Cartographic Center, about 550 square kilometers of land in and around Tehran (about the size of the UK city of Manchester or the US city of El Paso, Texas) is sinking an average of over 13 centimeters (about 5.12 inch) per year.