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CNN Live At Daybreak
Iranian Train Accident: More than 200 Killed
Aired February 18, 2004 - 06:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And we're getting more information on that tremendous explosion along a rail line in northeastern Iran. We understand the provincial governor was among those killed, as well as a number of rescue workers.
CNN's Matthew Chance has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well this appears to have been an explosion of huge proportions involving a train several hundred kilometers from the Iranian capital, Tehran, in the Province of Khorasan in the northeast of the country.
We're just building up a picture of what exactly happened before this explosion took place. It seems from the reports that we have got from the area that a number of carriages of a cargo train that were carrying highly inflammable materials like petroleum, gasoline, sulfur and fertilizer, somehow became uncoupled from the main body of the train and began to roll away before careering at high speeds off the tracks into a populated area.
It seems, though, that the majority of the dead and injured, and just to recap, we have now confirmed 200 people have been killed (INAUDIBLE) 350 have been injured and taken away to hospitals. It seems that the majority of those casualties were caused by some kind of secondary explosion that took place after many people from the local vicinity, as well as rescue workers, rushed to the scene to try and do what they could at the site of the accident and being caught up in a very large explosion, indeed, which was heard by eyewitnesses some 50 miles or 75 kilometers from the actual site of the train wreck.
Just to give you an indication how earth moving that blast appears to have been, the Tehran University Seismological Department is reporting registering an earth tremor registering 3.6 on the scale of magnitude which it says may have been sparked by the force of that blast. So it was an enormous explosion which has left a great deal of casualties. The death toll expected to rise over the hours ahead.
Matthew Chance, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 18, 2004 - 06:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And we're getting more information on that tremendous explosion along a rail line in northeastern Iran. We understand the provincial governor was among those killed, as well as a number of rescue workers.
CNN's Matthew Chance has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well this appears to have been an explosion of huge proportions involving a train several hundred kilometers from the Iranian capital, Tehran, in the Province of Khorasan in the northeast of the country.
We're just building up a picture of what exactly happened before this explosion took place. It seems from the reports that we have got from the area that a number of carriages of a cargo train that were carrying highly inflammable materials like petroleum, gasoline, sulfur and fertilizer, somehow became uncoupled from the main body of the train and began to roll away before careering at high speeds off the tracks into a populated area.
It seems, though, that the majority of the dead and injured, and just to recap, we have now confirmed 200 people have been killed (INAUDIBLE) 350 have been injured and taken away to hospitals. It seems that the majority of those casualties were caused by some kind of secondary explosion that took place after many people from the local vicinity, as well as rescue workers, rushed to the scene to try and do what they could at the site of the accident and being caught up in a very large explosion, indeed, which was heard by eyewitnesses some 50 miles or 75 kilometers from the actual site of the train wreck.
Just to give you an indication how earth moving that blast appears to have been, the Tehran University Seismological Department is reporting registering an earth tremor registering 3.6 on the scale of magnitude which it says may have been sparked by the force of that blast. So it was an enormous explosion which has left a great deal of casualties. The death toll expected to rise over the hours ahead.
Matthew Chance, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
