Around 900 kilometers from the capital Tehran, a train collides with an excavator in Iran. According to rescue workers, five of eleven wagons derail, at least 17 people die.
At least 17 people have died when a train derailed in Iran. "17 people are dead, 37 injured were taken to the hospital," said the spokesman for the rescue services, Modschtaba Chaledi, on state television. According to media reports, the incident happened when the train collided with an excavator in Tabas in the center of the country, around 900 kilometers from the capital Tehran. Rescue worker spokesman Chaledi said that 24 rescue vehicles and three helicopters were deployed at the scene of the accident.
The train collided with an excavator near the tracks, Iranian Railways Deputy Director Mir Hassan Mousavi told state television. The accident happened at 5:30 a.m. local time (3:00 a.m. CEST), and there were a total of 348 passengers on board. According to the rescue workers, five of the eleven wagons derailed. Pictures from the Isna news agency showed one wagon tipped onto the track and four other wagons wedged together. The accident site is in a desert region on the route between Mashhad and Yasd. According to media reports, the local public prosecutor visited the scene and investigations were initiated into the cause of the accident.
In 2016 there was a serious train accident in northern Iran. 44 people died when two trains collided and caught fire. After the accident, four employees of the Iranian railway company were arrested and the head of the company resigned.
Two weeks before the current train accident, the collapse of a building under construction on a main road in Abadan in south-west Iran claimed 43 lives. The accident sparked angry protests across the country. The protesters blamed corruption and incompetence in the authorities for the building collapse.
