Fears of further explosions on the Iranian runaway train wagons carrying fuel, sulphur and fertilizers that caught fire and exploded on Wednesday, killing close to 300 people, caused officials to cordon off the area on Thursday.
A cordon of troops ensured that medics and investigators stayed about one kilometre from the charred, mangled remains of the wagons. Soldiers blocked off traffic to the area and Tehran authorities cancelled train services to the region.
The huge explosion tore through mud homes in towns and five villages around Neyshabur, 640km east of Tehran, state media reported. ”The number of those killed in this disaster is now more than 200,” Vahid Barkchi, an emergency official in the Khorassan province, told the official news agency Irna. But an official document prepared by local officials for the Iranian Interior Ministry and shown to Reuters by a state official who asked not to be identified put the death toll as high as 295.
The Iranian authorities declared a day of mourning on Thursday and ordered an investigation into the disaster.
There were no immediate reports of possible contamination from the toxic materials that spilled but it remained unclear how a single train could be allowed to haul such a lethal mixture of chemicals. Fifty-one train wagons were waiting at Abu Muslim station near Neyshabur when something set them rolling down the track without an engine early on Wednesday.
The wagons, picking up speed, reached the next station, Khayyam, and erupted in flames. Firefighters rushed to the scene and had almost finished extinguishing the flames when the wagons blew up at 9.37am. — Â