At least 17 people were killed and dozens injured when a passenger train derailed after hitting an excavator in central Iran.
“Seventeen people died and 37 were hospitalized. The death toll will rise as many injured are in critical condition,” said national rescue service spokesman Mojtaba Khaledi.
According to the Iribnews channel, the accident occurred in a desert area near Tabas, 900 km southwest of Tehran, on the line stretching between the cities of Mashhad and Yazd.
Footage released by the government agency Isna shows an overturned wagon on the railway and four other wagons being dragged by the accident.
“The train carrying 348 passengers derailed after colliding with an excavator close to the track,” said Mir Hassan Mousavi, vice president of the state-owned railway company.
The accident occurred at 05:30 local time (Tuesday 22:00 GMT). Rescue operations commander Mehdi Valipur confirmed that five of the train’s 11 wagons were derailed in the accident.
– Fatal accidents – The accident occurred two weeks after a building under construction collapsed in southwestern Iran, a tragedy that left 43 dead.
On May 23, the Metropol building under construction in Abadan, one of the main cities of Khuzestan province, partially collapsed on a busy street.
One of the deadliest disasters in Iran in recent years, the disaster sparked demonstrations across the country in solidarity with the victims’ families and against officials accused of corruption and incompetence.
Nightly demonstrations were held in Abadan and other cities, especially in the center of the country, to honor the victims and demand the prosecution of those responsible.
Justice announced the arrests of 13 people, including the mayor of Abadan and two former mayors accused of being responsible for the tragedy.
In 2016, 44 people died and 82 people were injured as a result of the collision of two trains, one of which was stopped, and caught fire in northern Iran. The head of the railway company resigned and four of its employees were arrested.
The most severe accident occurred on February 18, 2004, when a freight train loaded with sulphur, gasoline and fertilizer exploded in the middle of villages near the city of Nishapur, a tragedy that left 328 people dead and hundreds injured.
In January 1993, 24 people were killed and 45 injured when two trains collided on the Tehran-Mashhad (northeast) line, two kilometers from Pishwa. Officially, the “signal error” caused the crash.
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source: Noticias
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