Iran: Death toll rises in train crash, killing 44

Tehran: The death toll in one of Iran’s worst rail disasters in which two trains collided and caught fire in a remote northern region had climbed to 44. Provincial governor Mohammad Reza  Khabbaz told state television that the crash took place in Semnan province on the main line between Tehran and Iran’s second city Mashhad.

An express train operating from Tabriz in the northwest to Mashhad had stopped, Khabbaz said, initially suggesting the cause could have been mechanical failure or extreme cold, although it was later put down to human error. Two coaches on the express burst into flames when a passenger train behind smashed into the back of it at 7:50 am (0420 GMT) yesterday.