Iran train explosion kills 200 people (Agencies) Updated: 2004-02-18 18:12
Runaway train cars carrying fuel and industrial chemicals derailed in
northeastern Iran on Wednesday, setting off explosions that killed more than 200
people, injured hundreds and destroyed five villages, according to the official
Islamic Republic News Agency.
The freight train cars — hauling sulfur, fuel oil and other industrial
chemicals — blew up outside the city of Neyshabur, 400 miles east of Tehran, the
capital, IRNA reported.
Fifty-one freight cars were waiting at the Abu Muslim train station near
Neyshabur when they were set in motion by "some vibrations," the agency reported
without elaborating.
The train cars, picking up speed and moving without an engine or conductor,
overturned when they reached Khayyam, the next stop, starting a blaze. It wasn't
immediately clear how far they'd traveled.
Firefighters trying to put out the fire when the cars exploded were among the
dead, IRNA said.
At least 300 people were injured. IRNA quoted local officials as saying most
of the casualties were in five nearby villages that were destroyed.
"The scale of the devastation is very great, and the damage appears more than
initially thought," said Vahid Bakechi, a senior official in Khorasan Province's
Emergency Headquarters.
Iranian television showed footage of overturned, blazing wagons, with fire
extending outside the tracks, toward the station and nearby homes. Dozens of
people, some wearing face masks to protect themselves from the smoke, were seen
walking around or putting out flames on the scene.
The cars were loaded with petrol, sulfur, fertilizers and cotton, IRNA said.
The villages of Dehnow and Hashemabad were among those reported damaged. It
wasn't clear if they'd been destroyed or how severe damage was there.
IRNA said the blast was so powerful that windows were shattered six miles
away.
