Nearly 300 people were killed[1][2] and the entire village was destroyed when runaway train wagons crashed into the community in the middle of the night and exploded, resulting in Iran's deadliest rail disaster.

The substances in the wagons were all highly explosive or flammable (although the Iranian railway authority had not classed any of them as "dangerous" before the incident), and had leaked following the crash.

During the cleanup operation, the cargo of the wagons exploded – the explosion reportedly being equivalent to 180 tons of TNT[2] – demolishing Khayyam, badly damaging the nearby towns of Eyshabad, Dehnow and Taqiabad, and being felt in the city of Mashhad, 70 kilometres (43 mi) away.

[3] Following the blast, troops from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were called in and were able to maintain security, whilst hundreds of rescue workers were brought in to help with the injured, the trapped, the missing and the dead.

[3] Initial reports that "earth tremors"[1] started the wagons rolling have since been discredited, and investigation has so far failed to discover how exactly the wagons were able to travel from Nishapur to Khayyam on their own, why so many highly flammable cargoes were stored and transported together, and why the details of the crash were not discovered sooner, perhaps in time to arrange an evacuation.