Just a few days after India lost hundreds of people in a fatal train accident, another train accident has claimed the lives of about 31 people in Iran on Friday when a passenger train rammed into the back of an intercity express which had broken down.

The Provincial Governor, Mashhad, Mohammad Reza Khabbaz told the state television that after the crash which occurred in the northern province of Semnan on the main line between the capital Tehran and second city Mashhad, more than 70 people were admitted to hospital.

The express train, operating one of Iran’s longest distances services from Tabriz in the northwest to Mashhad, had been forced to stop between stations by a mechanical failure, perhaps caused by the cold November weather, Khabbaz said.

Two of its coaches burst into flames when the train behind ran into the back of it at 7:50 am (0420 GMT). The front four coaches of the second train derailed and overturned.

Initial reports had said that the express train was stopped in a station when the accident happened, but Khabbaz said it was some four kilometres (two and half miles) outside Haft Khan station between Semnan and Damghan, the next major town.

At midday emergency services were still battling to put out the fire and rescue injured passengers from the overturned carriages.

The province’s Red Crescent director, Hassan Shokrollahi, said the remote location of the crash site had complicated rescue efforts. He said “due to the difficulty of access, only our helicopter has managed to reach the scene.”

The injured were taken to hospitals in Semnan and Damghan