Iran train-collision kills dozens, rescue underway in subzero temperatures

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Iran train-collision kills dozens, rescue underway in subzero temperatures

An investigation is underway as to why a moving train hit another stationary train at a station in Semnan province.

MENA

1 min read

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25 November, 2016

Rescue teams are finding it difficult to reach the scene due to low temperatures [Youtube]

Around forty people are estimated to have died and dozens more were wounded after two trains collided in Semnan province, Iran.

At least seven different rescue teams have been sent to rescue survivors from near Haft-Khan station in Shahroud, however local conditions have slowed down the rescue - as temperatures are currently around 13 degrees below freezing.

"So far only one helicopter has reached the scene because of access difficulties," Red Crescent chief, Hasan Shokrollahi, told Reuters.

Ali Yahyaei, a spokesperson for Iran's Red Crescent in Semnan, told Iran's official news agency, IRNA, that around 40 people were expected to have died and around 100 more had been injured in the crash.

Semnan governor, Mohammad-Reza Khabbaz, was questioned over the cause of the incident on IRIN television and said that an investigation was on-going. Khabbaz did not answer questions as to why the train navigation systems had failed.

A YouTube video of the scene of the incident shows one carriage of a passenger train on fire and another derailed. It appears that one of the trains was stationary at the time of the collision.