13 killed as train collides with excavator in Iran

A passenger train, coming from the city of Mashhad (northeast of Iran) towards the city of Yazd (central of the country), derailed this morning, due to a collision with an excavator, killing at least 13 people, and injuring dozens, some of them seriously.

For its part, the Iranian Students' News Agency, "ISNA", said, quoting informed sources, that the accident has so far killed 13 passengers, while about 50 people were injured, some of them seriously.

The agency quoted sources in the railway company as saying, "According to our information, this excavator was next to the railway, and it collided with the locomotive and passenger cars, which led to the derailment of 5 cars."

The Iranian Fars News Agency reported that the train was carrying 348 passengers.

For his part, the deputy head of the Iranian Railways Company, Mir Hassan Mousavi, told ISNA news agency, "The train derailed at 5:30 p.m. Iranian time near the Abbasabad station in the city of Tabas in South Khorasan Province."

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