Death toll in train derailment in Iran rises to 17
There were 348 people on board the train, the official news agency IRNA reported.
TEHRAN: The death toll in a passenger train derailment in eastern Iran on Wednesday increased to 17, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has put the number of wounded at 50.
The incident occurred at 5:30 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) as the train was moving from the eastern city of Tabas to the central province of Yazd, the agency quoted Mehdi Valipour, head of the IRCS’s Rescue and Relief Organization, as saying.
Teams of rescuers have been dispatched to the site of the incident, which is located 50 kilometers off Tabas, he said, adding ambulances and helicopters have been sent to the site.
There were 348 people on board the train, the official news agency IRNA reported.
The train colliding with an excavator parked along the railroad was reportedly to be the cause of the accident.
-Xinhua
