TEHRAN, Iran
At least 21 people were killed and several others injured after a passenger train derailed in eastern Iran early on Wednesday, local officials said.
The train was heading from Mashhad in northeastern Iran to the central city of Yazd when it derailed from the track near Tabas, a city in eastern Iran, 550 kilometers (341 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.
Iranian railway's public relations division issued a statement, saying the train collided with an excavator on the railroad at around 5.30 a.m. local time (0100GMT).
Authorities initially put the death toll at 10, which later jumped to 17, and yet reached 21 as search and rescue operation continued at the scene.
A total of 47 injured people were transferred to the hospital, said the Yazd emergency service.
According to the South Khorasan Governorate, eight out of 11 wagons derailed, and three wagons overturned in the incident. The rescue work concluded.
The train was carrying 348 passengers, it said.
Earlier, the emergency officials said the casualties are likely to rise as many passengers were admitted to the hospital with critical injuries.
Tabas Governor Ali Akbar Rahimi told local media that four wagons of the train had moved off the track after hitting the excavator.
Local media quoted survivors as saying that the train was moving normally when the driver suddenly pushed the break, which threw passengers off balance.
President Ebrahim Reisi, in an emergency Cabinet meeting, expressed condolences to the families of victims and ordered a probe into the cause of the crash, his office said.
Roads and Urban Development Minister Rastom Ghasemi tweeted that his ministry takes responsibility for the tragic incident and said he was on his way to the accident site in Tabas.
Iran, hit hard by sanctions, has in recent years tried to modernize its aging railway fleet by adding new or renovated trains to the national railway network.
Among the worst train accidents in the county was a 2004 crash when a train loaded with petrol, fertilizers and cotton crashed near the northeastern city of Neyshabur, killing at least 320 people.
More recently, in September 2019, a train derailment in the Sistan and Baluchestan province in southeast Iran killed three people and injured dozens of others.
Iran is yet to recover from the shock of a building collapse in southwestern Abadan city last month, which has so far killed 43 people.
Türkiye expressed "great sorrow" over the loss of lives due to the train crash.
"We wish Allah's mercy upon those who lost their lives, extend our condolences first and foremost to the relatives of the deceased as well as to the friendly and neighborly people and the Government of Iran, and wish a speedy recovery to the injured," the Foreign Ministry said.
*Jeyhun Aliyev in Ankara contributed to this story.
