70 injured as passenger train derails in southern Russia

About 70 people have received injuries, six in critical condition, after a passenger train derailed in southern Russia, RIA Novosti news agency reports citing the country’s Emergencies Ministry.

Five cars of a train heading from Novosibirsk in Siberia to the Black Sea resort of Adler have derailed in Kuschevsky district of the southern Krasnodar region.

A police source told ITAR-TASS news agency that an emergency brake application is considered among the primary causes for the derailment.

“According to preliminary data, the locomotive driver applied emergency braking, causing the derailment of the first five carts of the train. They fell to the side,” the source said, adding that the reasons for the emergency break are being investigated.