A passenger train travelling through eastern Iran struck an excavator and nearly half its cars derailed before dawn on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring 87, officials said.
The derailment near the desert city of Tabas was the latest disaster to strike the Islamic Republic in recent weeks as Tehran struggles under US sanctions and any return to its nuclear deal with world powers remains in doubt.
The train, operated by the state-run Islamic Republic Railway, carried some 350 people as it travelled from the town of Tabas, some 550 km (340 miles) southeast of Tehran, to the city of Yazd. The route had began as an overnight train out of Iran’s holy city of Mashhad.
