Bomb fear as 39 die in train crash
The Russian express train that came of the rails.
Saturday November 28 2009
At least 39 people were killed and 95 more injured when a Russian express train came off the rails in what could have been a bomb attack.
The Nevsky Express, carrying 661 passengers to St Petersburg, was derailed 200 miles north of Moscow.
"There are 39 dead," minister Sergei Shoigu told a heated video conference during which he barked out orders to local rescuers early today.
Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said the death toll was likely to rise and that a number of people were still unaccounted for. She said 95 people had been hospitalised with injuries ranging from broken bones to head wounds.
Russian Railways said that an explosive device may have caused the derailment.
"One of the versions is that the cause of the incident was an explosive blast," the state-owned train operator said. A 3ft-wide crater had been found next to the railway track.
A railway official who asked not to be named said a witness reported hearing a loud bang.
The derailment is Russia's worst train accident for years and talk of sabotage is likely to raise fears of an upsurge in attacks on the Russian heartland by rebels from the North Caucasus.
After a blast in 2007 that derailed the Nevsky Express and injured at least 30 people, prosecutors arrested two residents of Ingushetia and charged them with helping to carry out the attack.
Russian prosecutors said they believed ex-soldier Pavel Kosolapov, a former associate of the late Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, was the mastermind behind the blast. Kosolapov is still on the run.
In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "We are deeply saddened by the terrible loss of life and injuries resulting from the reported derailment of a train between Moscow and St Petersburg."
hnews@herald.ie
- Denis Sinyakov
