40 dead as trains collide in Iran

ANKARA: At least 40 people were killed and 100 injured when one Iranian passenger train collided with another at a station about 150 miles east of the capital Tehran, and the death toll is likely to rise, state television reported.

President Hassan Rouhani ordered an acceleration of rescue efforts as well as an investigation into the cause of the deadly crash in the northern province of Semnan.

Video footage showed four derailed carriages, two of them on fire.

A spokesman for Iran´s Red Crescent, Mostafa Mortazavi, told the semi-official Fars news agency that firefighters were trying to control the blaze.

"I was sleeping when the crash happened. I thought it was an air strike. When I opened my eyes, there was blood everywhere," a hospitalised passenger said.

Fars quoted Semnan provincial governor Mohammad Reza Khabbaz as saying the death toll was expected to increase.

The governor of Tabriz told the semi-official Tasnim news agency that the moving train had 400 passengers on board. It was not clear how many passengers had been on the second train. Fars had earlier said 100 had been rescued.

"Out of the 400 passengers . 48 are missing. They might be hospitalised or left the area but there is a high possibility that they were killed," Rahim Shohratifar told Tasnim.

The semi-official Mehr news agency said four of the dead were railway employees aboard the trains.