Runaway train explodes

2004-02-18 11:56

Tehran - Up to 60 people have been killed and 350 injured on Wednesday when runaway rail wagons loaded with sulphur, petrol and fertiliser derailed and exploded in northeast Iran, the state news agency IRNA reported.

Earlier reports had put the number of dead as high as 200, which was later reduced to 50 or 60.

"Five villages were destroyed. The number of the people killed in this incident is more than 200," the head of disasters in Khorassan province, Vahid Barakchi, was quoted as saying.

"The level of this is massive and beyond our preliminary assessments. Our rescue workers workers are trying to remove more than 350 injured people to hospitals in Mashhad and Neyshabour."

"The explosion happened at a time when the firefighters and the rescue workers were trying to put out the fire," said the head of disasters in Khorassan province, Vahid Barakchi.

"Three hundred people have been confirmed injured."

The massive blast occurred near the town of Neyshabour, and was heard in the regional centre of Mashhad, 75km away, IRNA said.

Local officials said the rail wagons, which were parked in a nearby station, began rolling away in the early hours of the morning. The wagons then derailed and a fire began, drawing firefighters and curious onlookers to the scene.

When the explosion occurred, the Seismological unit of Tehran University recorded an earth tremor measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale in the same area - possibly a reading sparked by the force of the blast.

- AFP