An explosive device planted under the railway tracks south of the Crimean capital has derailed a Russian train, spilling vital grain supplies and forcing the shut down of rail services across the peninsula, it has been reported. The device exploded at 8.20am local time (6.20am GMT) to the southwest of Simfereopol, the administrative hub of Crimea, damaging 50 metres of rail line, according to local outlet MASH.
Roughly 40 construction workers and engineers were rushed to the site to recover the grain and repair the lines, with travel suspended until Thursday evening.
Crimean Railways said the derailment was caused by “interference by outsiders”, sparking fears of Ukrainian sabotage.
Oleg Kriuchkov, adviser to the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, announced that the 65-mile route between Simferepol and Sevastopol, on the Black Sea, had been “temporarily suspended” as a result of the derailment.
Footage showed dozens of construction workers loading spilled grain onto trucks using heavy machinery – five out of the eight carriages were overturned – while dozens more attempted to repair the damaged rail lines.
At the start of May, another train was derailed after an improvised explosive device detonated in the Bryansk region of Russia, 37 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Four hours after the incident, tonnes of grain still lay across the terrain surrounding the rail lines.
The minister of transport for Crimea, Mykola Lukashenko, said on Thursday afternoon: “At 12:00, measures to fix the incident began. We hope that traffic will be open today.
“The grain will be shipped, cleaning activities will take place. The Crimean Railway will assess the damage.”
Head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said an investigation had been opened by the relevant departments into the alleged explosion.
Russian allegations that the derailment was caused by an explosion perpetrated by “outsiders” may well be a cover-up for their own system failure.
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Officials announced that 170 passengers with tickets for the Sevastopol to St. Petersburg trains will be brought to Simferopol by bus.
They added that there were no victims as a result of the explosion.
On Wednesday, Russia renewed the Black Sea grain deal, a Turkish-brokered accord which facilitates agricultural exports from Russia and Ukraine on the Black Sea.
The deal has been renewed multiple times as global food shortages risk becoming exponentially more dangerous if the waterways cannot remain open.
