Train crash in Iran kills at least 17, injures more than 50 others

GOOBJOOG NEWS|TEHRAN: A passenger train partially derailed in eastern Iran early Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and injuring 50 more, including some critically, the authorities said.

Initial details about the disaster involving the train, which was reportedly carrying about 350 passengers, remained unclear, but there were fears that the number of casualties could rise.

Four of the seven cars in the train derailed in the early morning darkness near the desert city of Tabas, about 340 miles, or 550 kilometers, southeast of the capital, Tehran, Iranian state television reported.

Iranian media reported that the crash is under investigation. Initial reports suggested the train collided with an excavator near the track, though it was not immediately clear why an excavator would have been close to the train track at night. One official suggested it could have been part of a repair project.

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 close to 300 people, injuring 460 others and damaging five villages.