Probe into runaway train disaster
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Firemen carry a victim away from the burning debris.
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A derailed train in northeast Iran explodes, killing and wounding hundreds of recovery workers.
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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Authorities have ordered an investigation into the derailment and explosion of a runaway train carrying fuel and chemicals in Iran that killed at least 200 people and injured hundreds more.
Fears of further blasts have hampered emergency services from determining the full extent of the death and destruction from the horrific disaster, caused when the train exploded near the ancient city of Neishabour, about 640 kilometers (400 miles) east of the capital Tehran on Wednesday.
The train crashed through several villages, and among the hundreds of bodies already recovered were the Neishabour's governor and other local officials.
Many of the dead were rescue workers or others who rushed to the scene to try to help. They were killed by secondary explosions.
Train cars of petrol, fertilizer and sulfur products careered down the line, derailed, caught fire and exploded hours later as firefighters and villagers crowded nearby.
A day of mourning has been declared for Thursday and the disaster is likely to prompt serious questions about how such a volatile mix of chemicals could all be in the one train convoy.
It was not immediately clear what caused the 51 carriages to roll out of Abu Muslim station, outside Neishabour, but Iranian officials said there is no suggestion of any link to criminal or terrorist activity.
Iran's State news agency IRNA reported that "some vibrations" had set the cars in motion.
The news agency said the train cars -- which included 17 loaded with sulfur, six with petrol, seven with fertilizers and 10 with cotton -- broke loose from the train station and rolled about 20 km (12 miles).
Most of the train cars -- picking up speed and moving without an engine or anyone in control -- overturned on reaching Khayyam, the next stop on from Abu Muslim, and caught fire before exploding.
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It is not clear why the carriages rolled away before derailing and exploding.
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The initial explosion was so powerful residents thought it was an earthquake.
Iranian seismologists recorded a 3.6-magnitude tremor at the exact time of the blast, IRNA reported.
Windows shattered for more than 10 km around the blast and the earth could be felt shuddering up to 70 km away.
State television showed flames licking from mangled, charred wagons, with thick black smoke billowing into the sky at the scene in the saffron-growing province of Khorasan bordering Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
The disaster comes amid political uncertainty, two days ahead of disputed elections on Friday in a country still recovering from a December earthquake that killed more than 40,000 people in the ancient citadel city of Bam, some 650 km further south.
-- CNN's Matthew Chance and Journalist Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report
