NERYUNGRI, Russia, June 12 (UPI) -- A Russian passenger train derailed Thursday morning in the Far East, injuring 60 people.
Investigators blame the crash on high temperatures that caused track to buckle, the Novosti news agency reported.
Oleg Safonov, presidential aide for the Russian Far East, said that about 1,200 feet of track were damaged. He said the crash in the Amur district was caused by "a double-buckling of a stretch of seamless rail due to temperature stress."
About 400 people were on board the Kharabovsk-Neryungri train at the time of the crash. Investigators said that the engineer spotted the damaged track and put on the emergency brake but had only reduced the speed of the train slightly when it derailed.
Ten of the rail cars overturned. Five of the 60 casualties were injured severely enough to be hospitalized.
Russian Railways said that delays are only about half an hour because an alternate line is being used for trains.
