Bomb Causes Derailment of Russian Train, Killing 25

Bomb Causes Derailment of Russian Train, Killing 25
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY and ELLEN BARRY
Copyright by The Associated Press
Published: November 28, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/world/europe/29russia.html?ref=global-home


MOSCOW —The cause of the crash of one of Russia’s most illustrious trains was identified on Saturday as a homemade bomb that went off on the tracks between Moscow and St. Petersburg, killing more than 25 people, wounding scores of others and raising fears of a new era of terrorism here.

Officials called the explosion on Friday the worst terrorist attack in Russia in years, outside volatile Muslim parts of the North Caucasus region, which includes Chechnya. There were no immediate credible claims of responsibility.

The force of the crash crumpled parts of the luxury train, propelling several of its 14 cars off the tracks, trapping passengers in smashed compartments and scattering luggage in the nearby woods. People on the train described a scene of panic and devastation in a rural area that was difficult for rescuers to reach.

The train, the Nevsky Express, is a preferred means of travel for the Russian elite between the country’s two most important cities. Among the dead were a former senator and a senior official in the federal economics ministry.

At the attack site, 200 miles northwest of Moscow, investigators reported Saturday that they had found remnants of a homemade bomb, equivalent to 15 pounds of TNT, that left a crater five feet deep. The bomb was apparently planted on the tracks and detonated while the second half of the train was passing.

Vladimir I. Yakunin, president of Russian Railways, said: “The basic version that is being investigated by the lead investigators is that it was an unknown device, by unknown persons. Simply put, a terrorist act.”

Mr. Yakunin said a second, less powerful explosive went off Saturday at the site of the crash. No one was hurt.

Russia suffered a wave of attacks in the early part of the decade as Muslim separatists from Chechnya struck trains and public places in Moscow and elsewhere, but there have been no such deadly assaults in recent years.

However, another Nevsky Express train was derailed in 2007 by an explosion, wounding more than two dozen people. While two people were later arrested, their motive remains unclear.

On Saturday, all rail service between Moscow and St. Petersburg, 450 miles away, was suspended, and there were widespread reports that Russians were canceling trips out of concern over possible attacks.

In nationally televised remarks, President Dmitri A. Medvedev called for calm. “We need there to be no chaos, because the situation is tense as it is,” he said.

Victims spoke of disarray soon after the crash, with rescuers delayed in arriving and then lacking equipment to extract people from the railway cars, according to interviews on Russian television. They said it was several hours before proper equipment arrived.

“I was riding in one of the cars that derailed,” one passenger, Igor Pechnikov, told the Channel One television network. “There was a jolt, and the car started sliding sharply to the left. I was thrown from my seat and flew halfway down the car.”

Another passenger, Tatyana Yeryomina, said: “Three of us went into the corridor to chat, when suddenly the lights went out and we fell to the floor. We were able to group together, which saved us. There was a huge hole in our car and we realized that something catastrophic had happened.”

At a nearby hospital, Marina Gravit said her train car seemed to buckle.

“All of a sudden the walls started to contract and expand and everything happened very slowly,” Ms. Gravit said. “Then there was a grinding sound. We fell to the floor and everything became dark.”

When a frantic dispatcher reached the train after the derailment, the engineer described confusion.

“There is smoke everywhere,” the engineer said, according to a recording played on television. “The locomotive is damaged. Everything is torn apart in my cabin.”

The train was carrying more than 650 passengers and 20 railway personnel during its regular run to St. Petersburg, which takes four and a half hours.

Earlier in the decade, Muslim separatists from Chechnya made passenger trains and subways a target. A 2003 suicide bomb attack on a commuter train near Chechnya killed 44. At least 12 people were wounded in 2005 when a bomb derailed a train headed from Chechnya to Moscow.

Russia’s Soviet-era infrastructure, which has often not been well maintained in recent years, has also caused deadly rail catastrophes. In addition, negligence and misconduct, sometimes caused by alcohol, have been factor in accidents.

On Saturday, Yekaterina Ivanova, one of the wounded passengers, told the NTV network that the evacuation was frustratingly slow.

“In the hospital, the doctors are better, the medical teams are working in harmony,” she said. “The young people from the Ministry of Emergency Situations carried us out on stretchers, but other people in uniform were just standing there and staring, and no one was even helping to carry out the wounded.”

Ms. Ivanova said rescue personnel did not manage to extract her from the train until 1:30 a.m., nearly four hours after the derailment.

Medical workers reported that reaching the scene was complicated because it was far from major highways.

Nadezhda Milyukova, the lead emergency doctor, told NTV: “There are only country roads, with huge ditches and puddles. You need all-terrain vehicles for those roads.”

Victims’ relatives told television networks that government hot lines did not function well, and that when they got through, there was little information.

“When we asked for some contact phone numbers, the lady told us that it didn’t fall within her job description,” a relative said.

Hundreds of passengers who survived the crash were moved onto a high-speed train and taken to St. Petersburg, arriving at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday. Several were in shock, and nearly all refused to speak about what had happened.

Police officers surrounded the platform, and ambulances pulled up to the train cars. Oleg Salov, a senior emergency situations official, said psychologists were meeting with relatives of the dead and wounded.

One of the train’s cafe cars was turned into a center for first aid and psychological assistance, and many passengers went there instead of home.

Michael Schwirtz contributed reporting.