Baku condoles with Tehran over deadly train crash in Iran

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has expressed condolences to Tehran over a deadly train crash in Iran’s South Khorasan province on June 8, Azernews reports citing the ministry’s Twitter account.

“We are deeply saddened by the news of the death of people as a result of the crash of a passenger train. We express our deepest condolences to the families of the crash victims, as well as to all the Iranian people, and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” the ministry tweeted.

On June 8, at least 17 people were murdered and 50 were injured when a passenger train derailed 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the desert city of Tabas on the rail that connects the town with the central city of Yazd in eastern Iran.

According to media accounts, four of the train's seven carriages derailed in the early morning darkness.

According to a railway official, the train collided with an excavator before sliding off the tracks.

Aerial footage showed railway carriages on their sides and rescue personnel scurrying around the accident area, assisting the injured. According to reports, ambulances and three helicopters carrying rescue crews were on their way to the accident scene in the isolated location where contact was weak.

State television also broadcast images from a hospital where the injured were being treated.

Iran has railway lines that stretch almost 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) across the nation.