Russia: Bomb caused train crash that killed 26

UGLOVKA, Russia — A homemade bomb was planted on the tracks of the high-speed Moscow-to-St. Petersburg train route, causing a derailment that killed at least 26 people and injured dozens more, Russian officials said Saturday as they opened a terrorism investigation.

The head of Russia's Federal Security Service, Alexander Borotnikov, said an improvised explosive device equivalent to 15 pounds (7 kilograms) of TNT had detonated when the train passed over it Friday night about 9:30 p.m. Remains of the device were found at the site of the crash, Borotnikov said.

"Indeed, this was a terrorist attack," the Interfax news agency cited Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for federal prosecutors, as saying. He told the ITAR-Tass news agency the bomb crater on the track was 1.5 meters (5 feet) deep.

The derailment of the upscale train, which was popular with government officials and business executives, was Russia's deadliest terrorist strike outside the volatile North Caucasus region in years.

The force of the derailment crumpled several cars in a remote rural area, trapping some injured passengers in the wreckage for hours and scattering luggage and metal pieces across the track. As of late Saturday, authorities still said 18 people were unaccounted for.

A second explosive device partially detonated Saturday during the clear-up operation near the disaster site, according to the head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin.

The last three carriages of the 14-car Nevsky Express careered off the tracks Friday night as the train approached speeds of 200 kilometers per hour (130 mph), officials said. More than 650 passengers and staff were on the train when it derailed near the border of the Novgorod and Tver provinces, some 250 miles (402 kilometers) northwest of Moscow and 150 miles (250 kilometers) southeast of St. Petersburg.

Reports on the death toll varied.

Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said at least 26 people were killed, 18 were missing and nearly 100 were injured and hospitalized in the derailment. The Prosecutor General's office said the death toll had risen to 30, with 60 others in the hospital.

There have been no credible claims of responsibility.