Basra: A missing rail link near Samawah averted major catastrophe

BASRA, 12 January — A source from the Railway Directorate revealed new details about the derailment of the Baghdad-Basra train near the Samawah station in the early hours of Friday morning.

The source informed 964media, “At 3 AM, the Baghdad-Basra passenger train derailed near the Samawah train station.”

The derailment was caused by a gap in the train track, where the rails had separated from each other. This resulted in the train’s wheels coming off the track upon approaching the Samawah station.

The train’s carriages overturned when they reached the station, after the train’s captain was caught off guard by the disconnection of the carriages due to the loss of one of the rail links.

The incident did not result in any human injuries among passengers, as the train was traveling at a speed of 50 km/h.

One of the train’s carriages tipped over onto the side of the track, and the entire train came to a complete stop. Two passenger carriages were damaged in the incident.

There was a disruption in the first train scheduled to depart for Basra, and passengers were transferred to another train.

Although regular maintenance is conducted on the train tracks by the Southern Region Railway Directorate, an investigation has been initiated by the Railway Administration to determine the causes of the incident.