MOSCOW — An express train carrying hundreds of passengers from Moscow to St. Petersburg derailed late Friday, killing at least 25 people and injuring dozens of others, emergency officials said.
The state-run railway company said the derailment could have been the result of sabotage, fueling fears of terrorism.
The three rear cars of the Nevsky Express went off the tracks in Tver province northwest of Moscow, said the Emergency Situations Ministry. Russian Railways said that four cars derailed and 50 people were taken to two hospitals in the area.
Based on reports from officials at the scene, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said 25 people were killed, including two who died on the way to a hospital, and 87 injured. He said 32 people were unaccounted for, but some or all of them might have survived.
State-run Vesti-24 television showed grainy footage hours after the derailment of a damaged car apparently lying on its side by the tracks. Its reporter called the wreck a “terrible catastrophe,” saying he was looking at a “warped” carriage and could see other damaged cars as ambulances drove in and out of the cordoned-off site.
Reporting to a crisis center in Moscow, an officer at the scene said the death toll could rise because five or six bodies were thought to be trapped under a carriage.
A bomb blast on the same line in 2007 derailed a passenger train and injured 27 people.
The route between Russia’s capital and its No. 2 city is heavily traveled by tourists and business people.
