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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bulldozers Clearing Rubble from Clay Brick Homes, Buildings After Iranian Train Blast

Aired February 19, 2004 - 05:32   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: To that train explosion in Iran now. Bulldozers are clearing the rubble from the clay brick homes and buildings that once populated the area. The death toll, 220.
Now to Iran and the village where the explosion took place.

Kasra Naji is actually joining us live by phone.

You're on the accident scene. What does it look like there?

KASRA NAJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, it looks fairly dreadful, actually. I'm standing on the edge of the village of Khorasan. This is the name of the village. The village surrounds the railway station where this massive explosion happened yesterday.

What I see in front of me are bulldozers working their way through the rubble of the village. There's nothing left of the village, just rubble. And they're working their way through the rubble, bringing bodies out.

In the short time that we've been here, I've seen about 15 or 16 bodies being brought out from under the rubble.

In the meantime, behind the rubble I see the smoldering of wreckage of the train that was the cause of this accident. The train, a runaway train. There's this bulldozer there you can hear behind me. This runaway train basically hit another train here at the station and this train was carrying a lethal cocktail of industrial chemicals, petrol, fuel oil and fertilizer.

And this is the crater where the explosion happened. The crater is so deep, we decided that it was something like a hundred feet deep, something like 35 meters deep. This is as high, if you like, this is equal to the height of a 10 story building -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Kasra Naji reporting live by phone, bringing us just amazing and awful pictures out of Iran this morning.

Kasra Naji reporting.

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Aired February 19, 2004 - 05:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: To that train explosion in Iran now. Bulldozers are clearing the rubble from the clay brick homes and buildings that once populated the area. The death toll, 220.
Now to Iran and the village where the explosion took place.

Kasra Naji is actually joining us live by phone.

You're on the accident scene. What does it look like there?

KASRA NAJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol, it looks fairly dreadful, actually. I'm standing on the edge of the village of Khorasan. This is the name of the village. The village surrounds the railway station where this massive explosion happened yesterday.

What I see in front of me are bulldozers working their way through the rubble of the village. There's nothing left of the village, just rubble. And they're working their way through the rubble, bringing bodies out.

In the short time that we've been here, I've seen about 15 or 16 bodies being brought out from under the rubble.

In the meantime, behind the rubble I see the smoldering of wreckage of the train that was the cause of this accident. The train, a runaway train. There's this bulldozer there you can hear behind me. This runaway train basically hit another train here at the station and this train was carrying a lethal cocktail of industrial chemicals, petrol, fuel oil and fertilizer.

And this is the crater where the explosion happened. The crater is so deep, we decided that it was something like a hundred feet deep, something like 35 meters deep. This is as high, if you like, this is equal to the height of a 10 story building -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Kasra Naji reporting live by phone, bringing us just amazing and awful pictures out of Iran this morning.

Kasra Naji reporting.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com