Time 1:15 Rail line Kuybyshev Railway Damage 2 Train Number of deaths 575 Injuries 800 | Country Soviet Union Passengers 1.300 Date 4 June 1989 Location Ufa, Russia Trains 2 | |
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Similar Bihar train derailment, Saint‑Michel‑de‑Maurienne derailment, Great Heck rail crash, 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami tr, Balvano train disaster | ||
The Ufa train disaster was an explosion on the Kuybyshev Railway on 4 June 1989 at 1:15 (local time) in the Soviet Union, about 50 kilometers from the city of Ufa. It was the deadliest railway accident in Russian and Soviet history, with 575 confirmed dead.
The explosion occurred after a pipeline began leaking liquid natural gas (mainly propane and butane), creating a highly flammable cloud that was soon ignited by wheel sparks from two passenger trains heading in opposite directions near the site of the leak. Both trains were carrying many children: one was returning from a holiday vacation resort on the Black Sea and the other was en route. Estimates of the size of the explosion have ranged from 250–300 tons of TNT equivalent up to 10,000 tons of TNT equivalent. According to official figures, 575 people died and more than 800 were injured. The exact location was near the town of Asha.
Causes
According to Dmitry Chernov and Didier Sornette, a number of factors contributed to the disaster.
Authorities concealed the risks after the accident.