The World - News from June 12, 1989

American burn experts flew to the Soviet city of Ufa in the Ural Mountains to treat hundreds of victims of a huge gas pipeline explosion and fire June 4 that engulfed two trains on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Soviet media said more than 400 people have died in the tragedy, with 805 people still hospitalized. The Tass news agency said the 17-member team of physicians brought their own drugs and equipment. The team is from the Institute of Surgical Research at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. The group’s leader, Lt. Col. William Becker, said during a stopover in West Germany that the specialists are expected to remain in the Soviet Union for up to 10 days.