Over 40 wagons involved in train explosion

A train carrying fuel and industrial chemicals exploded in northeastern Iran today, killing more than 200 people and destroying five villages.

About 300 people were injured in the explosion, when the freight train, hauling fuel oil and other industrial chemicals blew up outside the city of Neyshapur in Iran’s Khorasan province, the state news agency IRNA reported.

The accident set off a number of explosions.

More than 40 freight wagons were waiting at a train station in Neyshapur when they were set in motion. It was not clear how.

The wagons, speeding without an engine or anyone in control, later overturned, starting huge fires.

Firefighters trying to put out the fire when the wagons exploded were among the dead, IRNA said.

At least 300 people were 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.