A passenger train traveling through eastern Iran had five of its 11 cabs derailed early Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring another 87.
The train, carrying almost 350 people, derailed roughly 30 miles from Tabas, a town 340 miles southeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran, leaving over a dozen travelers with critical injuries. Initial reports suggested the train collided with an excavator near the track, according to the Associated Press.
“Passengers were bouncing in the car like balls in the air,” one unnamed injured passenger told Iranian state television.
IRAN SHUTS DOWN UN SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS AT NUCLEAR SITE AMID STALLED TALKS
It is not clear why an excavator had been close to the train track in the dark, though one official suggested it could have been part of a repair project. An injured passenger claimed they felt the train suddenly brake and then slow before the derailment.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has announced an investigation into what caused the accident.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The deaths and injuries from Wednesday’s derailment are similar to an Iranian train collision in 2016, which left at least 43 dead and about 100 injured. The country’s deadliest train disaster, in 2004, left at least 320 people dead and 460 others injured after a runaway train loaded with gasoline, fertilizer, sulfur, and cotton crashed near the historic city of Neyshabur.
