Rail traffic has been temporarily suspended between the Crimean cities of Simferopol and Sevastopol, after several cars carrying grain derailed, regional leader Sergey Aksyonov said on Thursday. Some media have reported that the disruption was caused by sabotage.
Crimean officials said the Russian region’s transport ministry was deploying backup buses to service train passengers. Aksyonov said the incident occurred outside Simferopol and did not cause any injuries, but did not offer further details.
The operator of the railroad blamed “interference by third parties” for the derailment. Unconfirmed media reports said local residents tipped the police about seeing a suspicious man in the area before the incident happened. Witnesses reportedly heard a powerful explosion before the derailment.
The news outlet Mash claimed that the blast left a 15-meter-wide crater on the tracks and damaged a 50-meter section of the rail line.
In February, train traffic in Crimea was briefly disrupted by railtrack damage near Simferopol. Regional authorities denied that it was caused by an explosive device, a claim made by some people online, but acknowledged that it appeared to be intentional.