Train derailment in east Iran kills at least 21, injures 87

By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A passenger train has derailed in eastern Iran, killing at least 21 people and injuring 87 others. That’s according to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency. The train was operated by the state-run Islamic Republic Railway and carried some 350 people as it traveled from the town of Tabas, some 550 kilometers — or 340 miles — from Tehran, to the city of Yazd. Based on images after the crash, it appeared the train’s locomotive had passed an excavator and the later cars somehow hit the digger and caused the derailment. However, authorities did not immediately explain how the disaster happened in the rural scrubland.