„Unauthorized persons” caused the derailment of a freight train near Volgograd, in southwestern Russia, Russian news agencies reported today, quoted by France Press, BTA writes.
"The train derailed at the Kotluban station (...) in the Volgograd region after the intervention of unauthorized persons", TASS and RIA Novosti agencies, as well as the newspaper "Izvestia", said.
According to RIA Novosti, which refers to Russian Railways, rail traffic has been restored in one of two directions.
The fire in a fuel tank and a wagon has been extinguished, the headquarters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations told RIA.
No details were given about this incident or the "unauthorized persons" who caused it.
TASS reported that a fire broke out in a fuel tank and a timber wagon at the Kotluban station in the Volgograd region, where the wagons of a freight train derailed due to external interference. The fire has been extinguished, the agency quoted the Russian Ministry of Emergencies,
"At 01:55, a fire report was received at the dispatch desk of the fire and rescue service in the Gorodishchensky district of the Volgograd region. In the village of Samofalovka, at the Kotluban station, a tank with diesel fuel and a wagon with timber caught fire. The fire was quickly extinguished at 03:38, the message quoted by TASS also states.
The city of Kotluban is located about 300 km from the border with Ukraine, and the Volgograd region is sometimes the target of drone attacks by the Ukrainian army, notes AFP.
At the end of April, the Russian security services (FSS) announced the arrest in the Volgograd region of two people suspected of involvement in a "terrorist" organization and in planning a bombing in favor of Ukraine.
Russia has already accused Kiev and its supporters of an attack on the Russian railway system.
In December 2023, Russia arrested a Belarusian man suspected of planting explosives to aid Kiev on two trains in Siberia near the border with China.
About a week earlier, the authorities announced complications in rail traffic on the main railway artery – Baikal-Amur Highway, about 5,500 kilometers east of Moscow.
In January 2024, Russian investigators announced that two teenagers had been charged with sabotage in favor of Ukraine after setting railway equipment on fire.