TEHRAN -- Iran’s railways chief says initial results of an investigation into the June 8 train derailment in east of the country show that high speed and obstruction of the rail had caused the incident which killed 22 people and injured dozens more.
Mi’ad Salehi said on Thursday that the train driver could have avoided the incident if he had not increased the speed of the train just before the crash.
However, Salehi said, investigators have determined that the obstruction on the rail line caused by an excavator had also played a role in the incident.
He said the excavator had been working on the location as part of an overnight operation to replace railroad ties.
The official said local railways authorities had ordered the repair project because of a sandstorm in the Tabas region, where the incident happened.
Judicial authorities in Tabas said on Wednesday that six people had been arrested in connection with the train crash. They did not elaborate on the alleged crimes of the suspects.
However, Salehi said the driver of the excavator that caused the collision had failed the sobriety test. He said a similar test taken from the train driver had turned out negative.
The train was carrying 383 passengers, mostly pilgrims from the central city of Yazd, who had travelled to the holy city of Mashhad in Iran’s northeast.
The crash that took place in the early hours of morning on Wednesday caused five of the train’s 11 carriages to tip over.
Medical officials said 86 passengers were injured in the incident of which six people still remain in hospital.
Iran’s worst train disaster came in 2004, when a runaway train loaded with gasoline, fertilizer, sulfur and cotton crashed near the historic city of Neyshabur, killing some 320 people, injuring 460 others and damaging five villages. In 2016, a train collision in northern Iran killed at least 43 people and injured about 100.
Iran has some 14,000 kilometers (8,700 miles) of railway lines throughout the country. Its rail system sends both people and goods across the country, particularly in rural areas.