The World : Soviet Train Explodes; 4 Die

A runaway Soviet freight train carrying tons of high explosives slammed into a coal train at a switching yard in Siberia and exploded, killing four people and injuring 280, the Soviet news agency Tass said. The blast in the city of Sverdlovsk left a crater nearly 200 feet across and 32 feet deep and triggered a fire and a second explosion at an oil storage tank in the yard, the Izvestia newspaper said. More than 30 homes and other buildings were damaged, and more than 850 families were evacuated. Izvestia blamed the accident on a mistake by the rail yard dispatcher, saying the engineless train ran away after chocks were removed from the wheels.