World News Iran train derails, killing around 300

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NEYSHABUR, Iran (AP) - Runaway train cars carrying a lethal mix of fuel and chemicals derailed Feb. 18, caught fire and then exploded in northeast Iran, killing around 300 people, injuring at least 400, and leaving dozens trapped beneath crumbled mud homes.

Most of those reported dead were firefighters and rescue workers who had extinguished the blaze outside Neyshabur, an ancient city of 170,000 people in a farming region east of the capital, Tehran.

The dead also included top city officials - including Neyshabur's governor, mayor and fire chief as well as the head of the energy department and the director-general of the provincial railways - who had all gone to the site of the derailment.

The explosion devastated five villages, where authorities rushed in blood supplies and appealed through loudspeakers for donors.

The blast was so powerful that windows were shattered as far as 9 kilometers away. Iranian seismologists recorded a 3.6-magnitude tremor in the area.

イランで列車脱線爆発事故

イラン北部で18日、燃料と科学物質などを運んでいた列車が脱線し、炎上、爆発した。この事故で300人あまりの死亡者と少なくとも400人の負傷者を出し、数十人がくずれた家屋の下敷きになった。

Shukan ST: Feb. 27, 2004

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