Train en route from Moscow derails (VIDEO)
Over a dozen people were injured after seven passenger cars went off the tracks while traveling to the city of Chelyabinsk
A passenger train traveling from Moscow to the city of Chelyabinsk derailed in Russia’s Ulyanovsk Region on Friday morning with several hundred people on board, leaving over a dozen people injured.
According to Russia’s railway service, there were a total of 415 passengers traveling on the №302 train when seven out of its 15 passenger cars went off the tracks near the Bryandino station in Ulyanovsk Region, about 700km east of Moscow. Some 65 children were among the passengers.
No one was killed in the incident, but around 35 people received various injuries, including fractures and bruises, with 18 requiring hospitalization, according to Ulyanovsk Governor Alexey Russkikh. The other passengers have been evacuated and are receiving assistance.
Russia’s Central Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case over the incident, stating that the derailing appears to have happened due to the poor technical condition of the railway track. Ulyanovsk’s Transport Prosecutor’s Office has also launched an investigation.
According to an RT source, a broken rail may have been the cause of the incident.
Experts are now said to be examining whether the tracks were properly maintained.