dpa/agencies
Tehran
At least 21 people died in eastern Iran on Wednesday when a train derailed while travelling on a route undergoing construction work, state media reported.
About 90 other passengers were injured in the accident near the city of Tabas, according to an Iranian Red Crescent tally of casualties.
The train was travelling between the holy city of Mashhad and the desert town of Yazd when eight of 11 carriages derailed some 50 kilometres outside Tabas, the Khorasan provincial governor’s office said.
Transport Minister Rostam Ghassemi, who went to the scene of the accident, said an excavator played a role in the crash.
"According to our initial information, construction work was taking place on the rail route,” Ghassemi said, according to the Fars news agency.
"An excavator left behind on the tracks caused the locomotive driver to brake sharply and this led to the derailment of the wagons.”
Rescue workers rushed to the site and helicopters were also deployed to retrieve those who were seriously injured. Some 350 passengers were reportedly on the train.
A passenger described to ISNA the moment of the accident, when the train suddenly braked sharply: "The passengers lost their balance and flew around like balls. The windows of our compartment were shattered ... We managed to escape through the broken window.”
The biggest train accident in Iran occurred in 2004, when a freight train loaded with chemicals exploded near Nizhabur, killing more than 300 people.
Aerial footage of the desert site of the disaster showed train cars on their side, with some rescuers running at the scene as they tried to care for those injured.
State TV later aired images from a hospital where the injured received treatment. One of those injured told the broadcaster they felt the train suddenly brake and then slow before the derailment.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi offered condolences over the crash and announced an investigation would be undertaken into its causes. On Wednesday night, authorities ordered the arrest of six people allegedly involved in causing the crash, though they released no other information about why they were suspected.
Iran’s worst train disaster came in 2004, when a runaway train loaded with gasoline, fertilizer, sulfur and cotton crashed near the historic city of Neyshabur, killing some 320 people, injuring 460 others and damaging five villages. In 2016, a train collision in northern Iran killed at least 43 people and injured about 100.
Iran has some 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) of railway lines throughout the country that’s about two and a half times the size of Texas. Its rail system sends both people and goods across the country, particularly in rural areas.
Iran also has some 17,000 annual deaths on its highways, one of the world’s worst traffic safety records. The high toll is blamed on wide disregard for traffic laws, unsafe vehicles and inadequate emergency services.
Iran, already straining under U.S. sanctions over its collapsed nuclear deal, has been mourning the deaths of at least 41 people killed in a building collapse in May in the city of Abadan in the country’s southwest.
Tehran
At least 21 people died in eastern Iran on Wednesday when a train derailed while travelling on a route undergoing construction work, state media reported.
About 90 other passengers were injured in the accident near the city of Tabas, according to an Iranian Red Crescent tally of casualties.
The train was travelling between the holy city of Mashhad and the desert town of Yazd when eight of 11 carriages derailed some 50 kilometres outside Tabas, the Khorasan provincial governor’s office said.
Transport Minister Rostam Ghassemi, who went to the scene of the accident, said an excavator played a role in the crash.
"According to our initial information, construction work was taking place on the rail route,” Ghassemi said, according to the Fars news agency.
"An excavator left behind on the tracks caused the locomotive driver to brake sharply and this led to the derailment of the wagons.”
Rescue workers rushed to the site and helicopters were also deployed to retrieve those who were seriously injured. Some 350 passengers were reportedly on the train.
A passenger described to ISNA the moment of the accident, when the train suddenly braked sharply: "The passengers lost their balance and flew around like balls. The windows of our compartment were shattered ... We managed to escape through the broken window.”
The biggest train accident in Iran occurred in 2004, when a freight train loaded with chemicals exploded near Nizhabur, killing more than 300 people.
Aerial footage of the desert site of the disaster showed train cars on their side, with some rescuers running at the scene as they tried to care for those injured.
State TV later aired images from a hospital where the injured received treatment. One of those injured told the broadcaster they felt the train suddenly brake and then slow before the derailment.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi offered condolences over the crash and announced an investigation would be undertaken into its causes. On Wednesday night, authorities ordered the arrest of six people allegedly involved in causing the crash, though they released no other information about why they were suspected.
Iran’s worst train disaster came in 2004, when a runaway train loaded with gasoline, fertilizer, sulfur and cotton crashed near the historic city of Neyshabur, killing some 320 people, injuring 460 others and damaging five villages. In 2016, a train collision in northern Iran killed at least 43 people and injured about 100.
Iran has some 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) of railway lines throughout the country that’s about two and a half times the size of Texas. Its rail system sends both people and goods across the country, particularly in rural areas.
Iran also has some 17,000 annual deaths on its highways, one of the world’s worst traffic safety records. The high toll is blamed on wide disregard for traffic laws, unsafe vehicles and inadequate emergency services.
Iran, already straining under U.S. sanctions over its collapsed nuclear deal, has been mourning the deaths of at least 41 people killed in a building collapse in May in the city of Abadan in the country’s southwest.